Creatures Of Habit

My great friend CorryHarper taught this to me:

We are all creatures of habit. Our lives are based on habit. We wake up, we eat breakfast, go to work, come home, etc... every day. We repeat things on a schedule. Repetition makes us comfortable.

One of the greatest forces in humanity is to repeat things; to resist change. When things change dramatically, we call it a revolution. That's why we wake up each day hoping to do the same things we did the day before.

Habits can be changed. You can get used to repeating new things. You can change the things you repeat. If you do them for long enough, you will find them familiar and comfortable. Consider EatingHabits? and ExerciseHabits?. If you incorporate good eating and exercise into your life, they will become habits. You won't feel right if you don't do them.

In fact, if you incorporate good programming habits into your life, you won't feel right programming without them either. It's uncomfortable and unfamiliar at first, but before you know it, the old way seems...clumsy. Any XP people to back me up on this?

--AnthonyLander

ChristopherAlexander calls these habits "patterns". NuffSaid.

Good habits are called "virtues." Bad habits are called "vices." Maybe that's why poorly written code is so evil. -- VirtuousProgrammer?

What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits.