One thing I probably say too often when working on code with other people is, "That's a new error. We're making progress." I take a bit of crap from a coworker of mine because of this. He thinks it is quite funny that new error messages are what I consider to be progress. After tracking down a bug creating some exception, it is nice to get a different message. This is of course as long as the newly written code didn't create the new error message. The idea when I say this is that I have removed a roadblock and gotten to the next one.
Perhaps we can make some analogy here about a hurdle runner jumping over a hurdle only to get to another one. Someone might say that it is bad that he is at another hurdle, but I prefer to say that it is great because he has made progress and is closer to reaching the finish line. Maybe he has one hurdle left, maybe twenty. It doesn't matter really as long as he is closer to the goal.
So leave me alone about the new error message thing being progress..... Ed.
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