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If Hemingway wrote JavaScript

byfat.xxx

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Re: If Hemingway wrote JavaScript

#11

Post by eevilspock »

citricsquid wrote: post #6
jrockway wrote: post #3

Excellent use of the .xxx domain name. If people start using .xxx for normal writing, the concept of "one place to conveniently censor" will not work out. Heh.

I don't think that is true, what will happen is people browsing hackernews from work (in not particularly liberal work places) will not be able to read posts. Even if people choose to (incorrectly) use the .xxx extension I don't think it's going to push people to stop assuming .xxx is pornographic. edit: assuming you're not being sarcastic, can't tell.

Some people don't give a fuck about page views. I highly suspect that @fat is one of those.

Re: If Hemingway wrote JavaScript

#13

Post by Void_ »

This is cool as a joke, but I don't think code should be compared to writing.

For example I am an engineer, so this comment is written like code. It contains just enough words to express my point, it's clearly structured and my goal is to make it easy to read.

That's okay writing, but far from great. Great writers can just sit down and write amazing text. I could never do that. I have to go back, read after myself and refactor.

I wonder if other engineers feel similarly.

Re: If Hemingway wrote JavaScript

#17

Post by arnsholt »

Void_ wrote: post #13

This is cool as a joke, but I don't think code should be compared to writing. For example I am an engineer, so this comment is written like code. It contains just enough words to express my point, it's clearly structured and my goal is to make it easy to read. That's okay writing, but far from great. Great writers can just sit down and write amazing text. I could never do that. I have to go back, read after myself an…

Writing prose is actually quite similar to writing code. I don't think any author writes in linear, unidirectional process. Just like coding, you solve some subproblems (chapters, sections, etc.) before moving on to somewhere else, you go back and refactor so that the text flows better, or the ordering of points is better. And there are bugs. Stuff that's wrong, a dropped word and so on.

My experience with writing is mainly with academic prose, but I think most literary authors work like this as well. Besides, I do think that different programmers will have different styles in the same way different authors have styles. In part it'll probably influence your choice of language, but there'll be variation within a single language as well.

Re: If Hemingway wrote JavaScript

#19

Post by ajuc »

Great post, but I don't agree with the critique of "Dickens'" solution.

Using one-step equation to solve iterative problem is IMHO better (obvious speed benefits for large n, the only drawback is floating point imprecision), and deriving the equation requires deeper understanding of the problem than simply modeling the iterative equation with a loop.

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