At some point in our programming careers, we’ve had to reorder server-side (probably database driven) lists. For example, allowing users to set the specific sequence that image thumbnails are displayed on the front-end of a photo album.
For “move-item-forwards” functionality, the logic may look like:
move_item_up( index ){ Store the element at index 3 to a temporary variable. Set the value of index 3 to the value of index 4. Set the value of index 4 to the temporary variable's value. }
The “technique” comes into play now, when you have to do the “move-item-backwards” functionality.
Instead of:
move_item_back( 4 );
Simply use:
move_item_up( 3 );
Moving an item backwards in a list is the same as moving the previous item forwards. This technique is rather simple and perhaps painfully obvious to some, though it may be useful to others.
