[rebootthesystem]

Once you have enough experience you do far less trial and error. I rarely write code that does not work. By that I mean, my code generally solves the problem to be solved on the first write and is generally significantly bug-free.

That's not because I am a genius or somehow super-human, I have a lot of experience and have developed a decent process of design-before-coding. Trial and error is really wasteful. It still has it's place in areas that might not be entirely clear. Outside of that, design-before-coding can save tons of time and aggravation.

In other words, coding is the end of a process, not the process.

[wtetzner]

Ah, I think the difference is that usually when I'm working on something, it's a new problem, and I need some time to not only try to find a solution, but first understand the problem. I find that trying to write a solution helps me to get the problem space loaded into my head.

Different people have different processes, I suppose. And that's a probably a big reason for why people have different opinions on tools: they have different use cases.

[rebootthesystem]

Whatever works.