My programming lecturer used to say &quot;programming is the process of breaking a problem down so a high speed idiot can understand it, if you don&#x27;t understand the problem then you can&#x27;t explain it&quot;.<p>He also said that a programmers most useful tool was a pencil and a 5mm square A4 pad.<p>After years of solving thorny problems by getting away from the screen and scribbling in a pad I can&#x27;t say he was wrong.