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Ask HN: Do You Program on Paper?

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Re: Ask HN: Do You Program on Paper?

#11

Post by dev_0 » Wed, Nov 08, 2023, 2:15 PM UTC

b20000 wrote: post #8

I wrote firmware on paper for years while drinking wine in a bar. I wrote some of my best code and fixed some of my hardest bugs while doing that. You can tear paper, tape it together. It can get filthy. You can use all kinds of pens. It is cheap and you can create any size overview you want. And you can look important and get asked questions. You can ruminate on problems for longer time such that you are 99% sure it…

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Re: Ask HN: Do You Program on Paper?

#12

Post by dev_0 » Wed, Nov 08, 2023, 2:18 PM UTC

pjacotg wrote: post #10

I recently listened to an interview with Leslie Lamport where he said you should write a description of your program in prose before writing any code. So not exactly programming on paper, but part of the process of thinking about what you're going to do can be captured on paper. He has a saying I like, "If you think without writing you only think you're thinking"

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