...As I was going through the book, I was impressed by a number of things that I had already picked up on. I was much more impressed however by how much I didn't know. While I've always felt that one of my strengths as a programmer was my attention to detail, one of my weaknesses has definitely been not always picking the most efficient solution to the problem. As I look back over some of the code I've already written for this project, I find myself using new (to me) and better ways to do things, as some of what I had done was just plain, umm, wrong :P

I think this paragraph says it all for me. I can pick things up very fast, but I'm always wondering if I did it the best way. But then usually it is fine, so I don't get the opportunity to go back and find the more efficient way.

Looking back at some code I wrote 1.5 yrs ago, I wonder what the heck I was thinking at the time! Experience plays such a huge role in programming because you figure what works and doesn't work. And more importantly, you know how to design something that you can come back to six months later and do maintenance on. :-)

Great writeup.