Advice from the pros for filling gaps in online courses

Question

I've seen it said in several places (here and elsewhere) that beginner courses jump straight into rules and syntax without teaching basic foundational concepts.

My questions are for the more experienced members:

· What do you think most programmers don't know but should?
· What gaps in knowledge are the most crucial to fill?
· What key advice do you wish some one had told you early in your coding days?
· What is the most annoying / frustrating / irritating thing other coders do?
· Etc.

Answer 1

1) document the code
2) the importance of documenting the code
3) tools related to code documentation
4) insufficent code documentation

Answer 2

....now that you mention it, indentation is cool too :-D

Answer 3

yes, clear documentation that explains the intent of the code, limitations, what the parameters mean etc... things that are not obvious by just reading the code.
It is also nice when it is written in a formal way so that it can be parsed by tools such as javadoc.

Answer 4

@ifl your answer was a bit vague; are you saying indentation is vital? ; )

Any tips for good documentation other than be clear and be thorough? What are the documentation tools of which you speak?

Answer 5

Good points, thank you I will try to adopt them as SOP. Isn't it mad that people have to be told to write things clearly and properly? So many sloppy coders it seems!