Quiet UIs and loud bugs

If a config file has more than a dozen options, half of them aren't being used. The other half are being used in ways the original author didn't predict.

The fastest debugging trick I've learned is to write out, in one sentence, what the system is supposed to be doing. Half the time I notice the bug while writing the sentence.

I used to add a layer of abstraction the first time I saw a pattern repeat. Now I wait for the third. The waiting is uncomfortable, but the abstractions that survive that wait tend to last.