How To Make A Good Program

  Many people may ask this question, 'How to make a good program', 'How can a program sell well', or something like that. In this article, I will tell you how to do it. But it is only what I think, if you don't agree, please just ignore this article.

  Well, to make a good program, firstly, you'll need a creative thought. Do not try to make something others already made. Once people get used to one program, they'll always using it. Few people like to change unless the new one is really better than their old one. If your program is new, and it can do the things that other programs can't do, it's good. People can't do the thing without your program, so they have to download and use the thing you made. Sometimes they even pay for your program. However, making something others already made can be a good exercise because you don't need to spend a lot of time to think about what to make. And, do not just edit an open source software. That program, even you changed it really much, isn't yours. The soul, the idea of the program isn't yours. And, what you make will always be yours, others will never get its authorization, including the case that they get your source code. So try to think carefully before you started to make one program.

  Then, your program needs to be easy to use. Nowadays, people are making computers do more work for them, and they don't want to think much. So if your program is too complicated, people will get annoyed, and they may delete your program and you'll never have another chance. Don't make the commands inside the program hard to remember, too. A short command is enough, not everybody would like to type a long, long line of command for a simple function. If your users can do the job with just a click on a button or something like that, they will get happier. Now people are busy, so make your program more convenient.

  Thirdly, your program needs to have a friendly UI. Make your UI clear, don't mess all the stuff up. I've seen many people put things anywhere, like on the left is a text field, and on the right is a combo box. People like neat UIs. Don't put too many words on your UI, you can put them in a file, like 'Readme.txt'. Also, don't create an app with too many windows. Moving those windows is really tiring. And as people don't like stuff all over the UI, they hate windows all over their screens, at least that's want most people think. And try to do more work with one button, instead of using many buttons which each does a tiny part of the work.

  The fourth idea is that make your program easily extendable. Make some APIs if you can. And not only you can extend it, your clients may want to extend it as well. An extendable program is also easier to fix when there are some bugs. If your program is good, many people may want to make extensions of their own. They can't beg you to make because if they do, you'll absolutely have no time to do other things. You'll have to make them develop extensions on their own. If you are not so kind, and you don't want them to learn programming and take the place you are currently staying, you can make them a Mod-Maker, or some thing like that.

  The fifth, don't use too many programming languages in one program. Especially script languages, few people would install those interpreters and virtual machines that they don't need often. Maybe there are some exceptions, like Java or Python on Linux, but mostly, don't use too many scirpt languages in one program, unless your program is really good, and it has enough advantages to attract users to install those things. Although the memories are becoming bigger, it is still precious.

  And sixth, make your program have the ability to run on different operating systems or platforms. For example, a Mac OS X user might want to use your program, which is built and compiled in Visual C++ (Windows), but he can't do it because the .exe files on Windows can't run on Mac OS. If you can't make your program run on different platforms, you should try to compile it on other operating systems, or you can make another version with another programming language for the OS.

  After that, I think we are going to talk about distributing your programs. On PC, you may place your program in some network disks. But, don't use the network disks that are blocked in some countries. Like, in China, people can't download resources from Mediafire, so you shouldn't place your program in it. However, if you don't have another place to put you program in, or you think that some people don't download it is okay, you can do that. Also, you'd better place them in some popular disks, as more people use them. You can also distribute your programs in forums. For android, you can out your program anywhere as people may freely download apps, but for iPhone, you should be one of the iPhone developers, although it costs 99 dollars per year, more people will see it, people don't need a jailbreak, and you can get a lot of functions that Apple provided. The purchasing is also more formal.

  Another important part is that your program needs support to all kinds of languages. This language means the language we speak, like English. This is a must if you want it to be popular around the world. For example, if you use languages like Japanese or Korean in your program, maybe people will not understand them. Try to use English, the language in your country, and some other languages with a lot of people using, like Chinese. You can give your program the ability to load language packs, so people can translate your applications.

  The ninth, you'll find open source useful. You can publish your source code on the Internet. This may help other programmers or developers. And they could possibly give you some new knowledge if you can get the code they modified. The only case for you to keep your source code, is when you want to sell it. When you wants to earn money with your program. But in this case, you can make a free edition, like 'Standard Edition' or 'Micro Edition' (Lite), and make another 'Enterprise Edition'. You can copy other's source code to your program, but not too much, as that will break the rule we said at the beginning.

  And, at last, I have to mention that, knowledge is power. Do more demos, researches and expriments. You'll find them useful, and you can find bugs with the results of your expriments. Trying is not only good for scientists, but also for programmers. Forums, search engines, and online documents are all good ways to learn. You can find more thing you need there.

  According to what I just said, you can see that making a good program isn't easy, but it is not a program if you really work hard.

  Oh, I forgot to say, you don't need to care about how fast your function is running, care about that only if you are still learning in the school. Your clients won't mind to wait a little bit for their favorite game. They will not think about how your game was done. You must think more about the result, not the way you do it. (That is important too, though.) 

  Good pictures and good background music are other two really important aspects of a good program.

  It seems no more points were left. Did you read carefully and remember the twelve points? If you do, and you think about them when you are making a program, I'm sure it's going to be a good one! Good luck when you go programming!

                                                                                                                                                                                           -------Jerry Yang from DYPro Program Studio