Question

I’m starting a fairly complex Swing application that heavily graphics-oriented with about 1000 separate jpegs, 30+ different forms, and timers keeping track of the rate of user-interactions throughout.

My question is from a practical programming perspective, after I’ve already written a storyboard for the entire project and got it approved by the client, where’s the best place (code-wise) to begin programming this massive project and in what order should I program the elements?

(Example Answer: first begin coding the declare and init statements of all the necessary pieces, then write skeleton versions of all the methods, then deal with swing design and layout manager (gridbag), and then deal with Events and Listeners)

Thanks for the advice everyone, oh and btw I really love StackOverflow!

Answer 1

You’re describing a ‘waterfall’ development approach – completing some level of the program first, then completing the next level etc. It’s indeed one possible approach, but many people find it so called tracer bullet approach better; first make something functional, then learn from it, adjust what’s needed and proceed. It’s especially useful if you’re working with a client, because by showing prototypes you can get feedback and avoid misunderstandings.