Nerd homework

[cdcox]

He shouldn’t try to write the entire code all at once. It can be too hard to hold the whole logic flow in his head all at once, even for a small problem like this. Instead, he should break it down into simpler projects that will contribute to the larger solution.

1. Turn an rgb strip on.
2. Make an rgb strip show random colors.
3. Make an rgb strip turn on only when the touch pad is touched.
4. Make an rgb strip intensity responsive to pressure.
5. Combine 2 and 4. Done.

This process of breaking problems down into smaller manageable parts and then composing the big solution from smaller solutions is a very important skill for engineering or software. As a budding engineer, he should focus on one tiny task in isolation of the others and just keep pounding on it until he gets a breakthrough. Most likely he will find the activity of solving small problems all consuming.

This will be the process he follows his entire career. If he tries to grapple with the big problem all at once, it can get confusing and frustrating very fast. Imagine trying to design a whole commercial airplane all at once. Every engineer breaks complicated problems into smaller, manageable parts and knocks them down one at a time.