Thought-Processes Question

[dk54]

I was wondering if any more experienced vba programmers could share some insight as to the thought processes that go through their head when they are working with excel or writing an application.

Obviously this is a general question so let me narrow it down a bit. There will be cases where:

So let's say you have a very specified project that you would like to accomplish. For example, in a post I made yesterday (which was very helpful) a user wrote back:

"I also automated the data reduction for what we call "burn-in" cycles from one of our systems. The macro included data summaries and charts of several parameters, and was used for more than 5 years by our manufacturing department (upwards of 1000 systems, 20 to 30 cycles each) without needing modifications except when they changed versions of Office. The overall code was around 28 pages printed out. It would be much shorter now, because I code more efficiently now, but sometimes you have go with "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

More recently, I was able to automate a process of opening, extracting, parsing, and summarizing data from around 20000 pdf files. It was just a one-time thing, but allowed the data to be extracted over the course of a couple of a day or two rather than weeks or months."

Could anyone care to share a rough idea of what their "Internal Monologue" would sound like while they are solving problems similar to this? I know that in order to get better it will be invaluable for me to learn how to think critically for myself...rather than simply asking for advices and emulating others to write my programs.

I'm looking for something like..."Well I'm trying to work with X Object/Value/Property/Method, etc... and X is "Something" so I will need to probably use the X...to access that. From my experience, I know that I will need a do while/for if/select case/for each etc construct because [reason]. I will need to watch out for X errors because [reason] so probably the best way to go about solving it is [x].

Or if your thought process is completely different, please share with me. I want to improve this aspect of myself as much as possible.

Last Question: Given that you provide a similar or differing example of a process, could you provide me with some pointers on the things I can do to improve it for myself? Even if its really difficult such as..."Well first, you need to familiarize yourself with the general object model(which I do, but I'm sure I could improve)...familiarize yourself with widely used syntax and first learn by watching examples to see how things work in general. And then you can practice to think critically by...and then...[this point is where I start getting lost and would like some input how to get beyond it. How do I get break this barrier and get past emulating others and instead learn to think critically for myself?]

Even Pointers like..."Well I always start with thinking about what it is I want to accomplish. Is it a "X" type project that will require X? Is it a Y type project that will require Y? Then I think about the objects that will need to be accessed in an application like this. I think about the best ways to deal with the object. Things that come to mind are ...x...y...z. After that I...

 

[MrKowz]

Check out this post that might give you some good ideas.

When I first encounter a situation that requires a large amount of automation, I try to take a moment to explain it to myself in words. Since my short-term memory isn't the best in the world, I usually write down key things. After I write down the basic logic (pseudo-coding), I then determine if I need a flow chart (flow charts I've found to be HANDY for loops or crazy-nested IFs).

However, critically thinking on your own versus emulating another's task is something that can only come with experience. Not experience in thinking, but experience in VBA. When I come across a situation that requires a bit more research, I take the extra time to not only familiarize myself with the code, but I try to break the code down to figure out WHY it works. This way, I spend more time learning the code, and less time manipulating it the way I want. By doing this, I am able to, in the future, easier create similar code from scratch, since I know what each element did.

I know this was a bit scatterbrained, but hopefully it will give you a bit of insight.

Cheers!