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Software engineers should write

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Re: Software engineers should write

#41

Post by robbrown451 »

Kalium wrote: post #3

I find myself uncertain about the thesis. Code that is clear and expressive to a human should not be assumed to also be efficient and optimal for a computer. As writers say, know your audience.

I didn't see what you are seeing in the thesis. There was nothing that said that the sole end goal of programming is to be expressive to humans (whether those humans be yourself, other coders or end users).

As for audience, when coding you can consider your audience to be both humans that follow you, as well as the machine it is running on.

Re: Software engineers should write

#44

Post by sigil »

To paraphrase Knuth, "programming is explaining to another human being what you want a computer to do."

Should you take it to the extreme Knuth did with Literate Programming? I personally don't. But, once I've successfully explained to the computer what it should do (my program works) I look for ways to better communicate what it's doing (my program is readable). In many cases that's harder than solving the technical problem at hand.

Concision and simplicity seem to be the key to that. I agree with the author that "like good prose, good code is concise," although for prose that's more a matter of taste. Otherwise we'd all be reading a lot more Hemingway.

Re: Software engineers should write

#46

Post by VLM »

las_cases wrote: post #33
marktangotango wrote: post #21

Hey software engineers, write some m*ther f!cking documentation! Don't tell me it goes out of date, at the very least a module level, architectural overview is better than nothing, and should remain relevant past your tenure. /rant

How do you feel about the saying that code itself should be as good as documentation? I personally prefer to read the documentation while skimming the code as well but sometimes, when I am under the pressure of having to deliver something, I absolutely despise not having proper documentation so I tend to agree with you.

Standard HN car analogy time. "Look at the code" is like telling a car mechanic trying to replace a part to look real closely at a high res pix of the factory, instead of reading the Haynes manual.

Re: Software engineers should write

#47

Post by ionforce »

edpichler wrote: post #23

"Even if nobody reads your essay, writing it will make an impact on you." After reading a post in HN ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5614689 ) entitled "why you should write every day", I've being doing it daily in a private blog. I do it in English to improve my second language. My main language is Portuguese. I'm doing it since 09/22/2014. I try to write about my own ideas, because I believe is the right thi…

> I'm doing it since 09/22/2014.

"I've /been/ doing it since ..." Concordo. Acho que deve continuar escrever. De onde você é?

I agree. You should continue to write. Where are you from?

Re: Software engineers should write

#49

Post by alexggordon »

I think this is one of the main benefits I find on HN. Not only does this give me an intelligent, well educated community to talk to, but most often the community shares my hobbies and interests.

I think being able to write is extremely important, but I think the rhetoric behind writing is just as important, if not more important. When you write in a community or forum, like HN, citing your sources and defending your arguments is more important than on a blog, because if you don't, your voice simply won't be heard as loudly.

Contrast this with clickbait blogs, or blogs that simply write for shock, it because clear that having a humorous or convincing writing style is almost as important as being able to argue your point, or convey a complicated idea. However, in my mind I find the latter a far more important skill in the long run.

So yes, software engineers should write, but also don't forget to do some 'code' reviews.

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