Pictures in my head

  I've spent the day working today reading code and making pictures of code flow in my head. Quite a lot of people seem to be able to learn by reading a document and looking at diagrams. I find those pretty meaningless since they are so disconnected from the actual code that does the actual job of what the software is meant to do. Something about sitting down and reading through code in an overall level makes it so much easier for me to visualise how something works. I'm not sure why I seem to be so different from other software people in that way. Maybe they get lost in the details of each line of code without being able to just get an idea of the overall flow from the higher level view of the code.

  Maybe that is why I've gotten to where I am in my career. I can look at some actual code, of which there is a lot already written by other people, get an idea of what it is trying to do and how and then make it do something else. Or make it do something properly. Or even just make it do the same thing but in a better way that is invisible to the end user. I can sit and read code all day sometimes, I've done it most of today uninterrupted by other work people, and then it sticks in my head. I can still describe code flows from software I worked on almost two decades ago. Argh, why do I remember these things and not others?

  Still I'm glad I have this ability and can use it to earn a living for me and my wife. It allows us to live a decent life and not worry about things generally.