Thinking in flowcharts

Most of the processes in software development, in this specific case for a web application, happen in logical steps. Step one comes first, then step two, etc. - many situations are commonly so predictable. The end result is this logic is expressed in a programming language. More important for the developer, who must plan or write that code, is to decide what steps should occur and what decisions should be made to choose the correct steps.

Take the following example. A web interface depends on a database row existing for each day. If you didn't create new rows for every day into eternity (arguably a less elegant solution), when the clock strikes midnight your flow cart looks like this:

If you think in flowcharts, and anticipate this gap in your earlier logic, you may imagine a flowchart like this:

I'd be surprised of an ORM will do all this thinking for you automatically. It's the developer's job to think of these situations to make more stable software. Personally, I don't actually see a picture of a flow chart in my mind such as the above, but some synapses in my brain connect in some analytical way to just "know" this flowchart.

One caveat: Rarely you may be using threads in which your flowchart may be a little more complex - where step two might be attempted before step one - but a flowchart could probably solve that situation as well.