261–270 of 307 posts
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Two spaces between sentences is how I've always typed them, even if it's in HTML or MD or other forms that will condense them into a single space in the final render. The two spaces mark a clear intent to end a sentence instead of a period to punctuate an abbreviation.
I've seen two spaces listed as a "resumé don't-do" cos it marks you as an oldster.
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> they only teach you how to write as at a level that a 8 years old reader would understand. Many if not most modern writing advice will remind you to focus on your audience. Most audiences aren't composed of eight year olds. So it isn't true that most advice suggests writing for eight year olds. > As a result, the level of reading and comprehension for most people has decreased to a level that is lower than in any o…
>So it isn't true that most advice suggests writing for eight year olds. That may be true although I can tell you from personal experience that writing optimizers for places like trade press sites absolutely push you towards more basic language, shorter sentences, etc. One site in particular I used to write for sometimes told me every single time that I should basically dumb down my prose. And I don't write in a part…
Would it be possible for you share an example of your prose that received this criticism?
One big advantage not mentioned in the article particularly relevant to this audience: git diffs (or your VCS of choice). One sentence per line means diffs will operate per-sentence, rather than per-paragraph. This way the diff can capture the restructuring of the paragraph (adding/removing/replacing a sentence), which gives much more insight than swapping out the paragraph wholesale. It also means minor changes (e.g…
I think we need to start changing this. In an era of language servers, perhaps our diff tools should be semantic instead of line based. I get so tired of seeing diffs where I add a function and the diff shows that I added it inside the previous function instead of between them, because it starts the diff one line too early.
See `git help diff`
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Some people might prefer two spaces, but my understanding is that all authorities on “good typography” have standardized on one space: https://practicaltypography.com/one-space-between-sentences....
Rendering engines can do anything they want. The question is about source representation only, for semantic purposes. That has nothing to do with output representation. Even practicaltypography completely misses that distinction. You wouldn't publish anything with line breaks between sentences either. Double spacing or line breaks both work nicely for semantic purposes because html (or markdown which almost always en…
What extra information is encoded by fullstop + 2 spaces?
> My advice to anyone who writes: Try writing one sentence per line. I’ve been doing it for twenty years, and it improved my writing more than anything else. Who is the judge of 'it improved my writing more than anything else'? What was the 'anything else' for that matter. This is a particular writing style just like Aaron Sorkin has a particular style. Some people like that style to others it's annoying. https://the…
This isn't suggesting that the things that you publish be one sentence per line. It's suggesting that you write one sentence per line, polish the individual sentences (and question their right to exist at all) then edit them into paragraphs. You might have assumed this assume this by noticing the fact that the article has more than one sentence per line. > Who is the judge of 'it improved my writing more than anythin…
I am challenging how someone arrives at that conclusion if they are the judge (which seems implied). Sivers gives nothing at all to indicate - not even anecdotes - as backup for the improvement. His statement is general and broad.
Let's say he was instead describing writing he did for school or for work. So before he applied his technique he was rated or judged a certain way (grades, reviews). Then he started to use the technique he describes. He then gets better grades or reviews. In that case he concludes 'it improved my writing more than anything else' (and I might still ask 'what are the other things you tried that did not work'. But in this case all he says (again) is a very broad and not in any way backed up 'it improved my writing'. And he claims 'advice to anyone who writes' he can't be serious using 'anyone' in that 'polished' sentence other than to get people worked up over a blog post and talking about it (which to be clear is a technique that bloggers use)
> Would you give him permission to describe one practice he adopted while writing without describing every single step he's made in learning how to write since he was a child?
People read what others have written and critique. My guess is that if he read my comment he might think that someone thought a certain thing and wonder and then maybe he would learn and/or make an adjustment. Not the reason I made my comment but there is nothing that indicates he should not be criticized or that others can't learn from the statements that I made whether they agree or not with what I said.
> It's suggesting that you write one sentence per line, polish the individual sentences
Again he is not even indicating when his technique matters. I write every day (for sales) I get very good results (judged by replies and results). In my case I don't have to polish every sentence I write enough and have enough feedback that I find that sometimes you don't even want to care that much because that in itself (in certain situations) telegraphs something.
You don't think starting a post with this is a bit to broad:
"My advice to anyone who writes: Try writing one sentence per line."
Seems very clear to me 'advice to anyone who writes' seriously 'anyone'?
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Rendering engines can do anything they want. The question is about source representation only, for semantic purposes. That has nothing to do with output representation. Even practicaltypography completely misses that distinction. You wouldn't publish anything with line breaks between sentences either. Double spacing or line breaks both work nicely for semantic purposes because html (or markdown which almost always en…
Maybe I'm just being slow this morning, but isn't the fullstop the indication of the end of the sentence? What extra information is encoded by fullstop + 2 spaces?
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Debuggers and stack traces too. Logic is not line-based. When you get a NPE on a line containing `thing.method(x.y.z, q(), w.e().rty())`, which item is it on? Type information is insufficient, there could be multiple of the same thing on the same line. Some debuggers are smarter ("step to cursor" sometimes goes to in-line locations), but many are not, and most languages I've seen will give you precise compile-time er…
Aside, I’m really excited to move to a newer JDK: https://openjdk.org/jeps/358