Please learn to write
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Please learn to write
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Re: Please learn to write
#2Being able to write well appears to be a shockingly lacking skill in my industry (pentesting and forensics). It's a really rare talent when you find someone that is capable of writing a good report in appropriate plain business English.
Having that skill is intensely valuable, as I'm sure it is in other areas of IT. How big a role does being able to write well play in your part of the world?
Re: Please learn to write
#3An interesting take on the topic. I would tend to agree with it. I've always maintained that it takes a certain something to be a programmer. The specific language is less important if you have a "programmer's mind". I've worked with a bunch of different languages. Once you get over the varied learning curve of the exact syntax and structure, it really just leaves you with the general logic and planning and all the stuff that any app is going to require regardless of the language. These aspects are not as easily learned as things like "always (or never) terminate with a semi-colon" or "white space matters".
But I also struggle a fair amount with remembering all the rules... and exceptions to those rules... and exceptions to those exceptions... when it come to American English. Sometimes I actually have to pause and mentally recite the rules for "its vs. it's" and things like that. I think that comes from there not being a strict compiler for the that. The reader is going to be more forgiving in the sense that even if you misuse its when you should use it's, the reader is going to to understand your overall meaning. Most won't correct you because it doesn't really matter to them. Think about the butchered language that gets used on Twitter to get things into 140 chars. It would be nearly impossible to write an interpreter that would take most tweets and rewrite them in proper English. You have too many variations to make that work. But the reader will probably have less trouble with it.
Re: Please learn to write
#4Communication skill is a proxy for critical thinking skill - if you can't communicate effectively, your critical thinking skill is either going to be undervalued or underutilized.
For the lack of understanding, communication inputs are misinterpreted, ignored or incorrectly responded to. For the lack of clarity, precision and understandability, communication outputs suffer the same fate. And, as we've learned in networking, inefficiencies in a system (such as the engineer whose emails make no sense, when he/she bothers to reply at all) get routed around.
Re: Please learn to write
#5The font on that website hurts my eyes.
Re: Please learn to write
#6Being able to write well appears to be a shockingly lacking skill in my industry (pentesting and forensics). It's a really rare talent when you find someone that is capable of writing a good report in appropriate plain business English. Having that skill is intensely valuable, as I'm sure it is in other areas of IT. How big a role does being able to write well play in your part of the world?
Good writers move up the organizational and/or salary ladder.
Good technicians or engineers who cannot communicate end up making the guy who translates whatever they are doing to the customer or management look good.
Re: Please learn to write
#7[deleted]
Re: Please learn to write
#8The next great thing will be a post titled: "Please: stop with 'please' titles"
Re: Please learn to write
#9[deleted]
> [...] as long as they do something about math's terrible symbol notation...
Which area of math are you talking about? In general you can make up your notation as you go along solving your problems, and only need to use a common notation for sharing your work with other people, and even then a short introduction will usually suffice and you can use your notation.
The standard notation is convenient, and that's why people use it. Historically, it developed writing on black boards and paper and works best there, it doesn't map all that well to ASCII.
Re: Please learn to write
#10Exactly what I thought when I saw all the responses to Atwood's original post.
I think he meant to play the realist card. Of course the world would be better if more people learned how to code, but that comes at a substantial time cost. Lets say I argued on how everyone should learn to play an instrument. There are many intangible benefits to this, but lets get real. The world would only be a better place, truly, if everyone learned how to play an instrument well, and there just isn't enough time for that.