Designing Before Coding

What problem does it solve?

This Skill prevents costly debugging cycles and "hack-and-fix" development by ensuring a solid design is in place before any code is written. It helps avoid getting stuck, writing messy code, or having to discard significant work due to poor initial planning.

Core Features & Use Cases

• Pseudocode-First Approach: Guides you to sketch out solutions in plain English, making design changes cheap and easy before committing to code.
• Iterative Design: Encourages exploring multiple approaches in pseudocode to select the most optimal solution, rather than settling for the first idea.
• Reduced Debugging: Catches design flaws early in the process, significantly cutting down on time spent debugging and refactoring later.
• Use Case: Before implementing a new user authentication flow, use this skill to outline the steps (validation, database lookup, session creation, error handling) in pseudocode, explore different error strategies, and then translate the chosen design into actual code.

Quick Start

I need to implement a new process_payment function. Guide me through the pseudocode design process, including prerequisites, naming, error handling, and exploring alternatives.