[DonRotolo]

I agree with those above.

Some things that many professional programmers do, can make programming easier. Right or wrong isn't the issue - easier work is.

1. Comment your code as you write it. For very obvious things, only a little commenting is OK, but for stuff that's complex, explain what you're doing. A year from now, it'll help you figure out what you were thinking.

2. Try little snippets of code to see if they work. Like building a robot, try each little piece to verify it works, then drop it into the 'big' program.

3. Don't be afraid to put in diagnostic code - things that will help you see what the program is doing every step of the way, so when something works unexpectedly, you can figure out why. (Comment this out for better performance later - but leave it in case you need it?)

4. Back things up constantly, a few times a day. (I make a backup every 10-15 minutes!). And make true backups - don't overwrite old versions, keep them! Disk space is cheap, as are USB memory sticks and external hard drives.

My 2 cents'