Maciej Ceglowski's critique about pg's "Hackers and Painters" applies here: The biggest difference between programming and writing is that one of them can get you laid.
Programming and Writing
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Re: Programming and Writing
#22Maciej Ceglowski's critique about pg's "Hackers and Painters" applies here: The biggest difference between programming and writing is that one of them can get you laid.
Writers get laid sometimes too.
Re: Programming and Writing
#23It's an interesting perspective, but from what little creative work I have done I would say the big difference is programming is very logical, very precise, and creative work is very expressive, and very, very imprecise. Creative work really requires you to listen to how you feel about the final product, how it sounds, how it is experienced, while programming is really about being organized and correct. I suppose the…
A lot of creative work is precise too. The number of writers who e.g. use spreadsheets or similar to keep track of scenes, characters and arcs is fairly substantial.
While the specific final words are less precise, there's a lot of rules to adhere to in order to write well as well.
And the best programming is often very creative.
Re: Programming and Writing
#24I like this. Another phrase I've heard is that code is like poetry, but I think good code is more like an essay or book than like poetry. There's structure, clarity, etc. It can be a little verbose if that helps make it easier to understand.
Re: Programming and Writing
#25Will it be a single-threaded story with minimal cruft?
Re: Programming and Writing
#26I like this. Another phrase I've heard is that code is like poetry, but I think good code is more like an essay or book than like poetry. There's structure, clarity, etc. It can be a little verbose if that helps make it easier to understand.
I feel as if it depends a lot on the code.
I sometimes read code for fun. Some code read like an essay, some like a book and other code read like a collection of poetry. So I feel as if all 3 can apply, sometimes some of them at the same time.
Re: Programming and Writing
#27As someone who has done both extensively, I humbly disagree. Writing involves thinking in a much less instrumental way, in my experience. In programming, there is often a clear pre-defined task, and the only question concerns the proper means of achieving that task. Writing, on the other hand, necessarily compels something much more dynamic & non-linear at the level of composition.
I'd toss this one under the category of 'wouldn't it be nice'. It would be nice if writing and programming were similar. It would be nice to have a bridge from the sciences to arts and letters. But if such a bridge could be merely posited, well, this positing would already be common parlance.
Re: Programming and Writing
#28Another difference, that I have found, is that programming is immediately rewarding because it's verifiable. On the other hand, writing is without a feedback mechanism or a very delayed feedback or even subjective feedback, which can be painful and demotivating.
Re: Programming and Writing
#29An underappreciated aspect of programming that is taught well and consistently in the context of writing is the need for iteration. Never publish something without rereading it first. Anything longer than an email, you should have a break between writing a first draft and taking a second look at it. Murder your darlings: learn to recognize things that you're proud of for the wrong reasons, things that other people won't appreciate, and throw them in the trash. The harder something is to write, the worse your first draft is likely to be, and the less likely you are to immediately recognize it when you finish.
Re: Programming and Writing
#30As someone who has done both extensively, I humbly disagree. Writing involves thinking in a much less instrumental way, in my experience. In programming, there is often a clear pre-defined task, and the only question concerns the proper means of achieving that task. Writing, on the other hand, necessarily compels something much more dynamic & non-linear at the level of composition. I'd toss this one under the categor…
Computer programs can often be structured in nearly infinite ways while accomplishing the same (or nearly the same) objective.
Writing can often be organized and worded in nearly infinite ways while getting across the (or nearly the same) message.
There are some pretty strong similarities. Writer's block and programmer's block correlate.
EDIT: Sadly, writing has no compiler to tell me that I overlooked the word "block" after "programmer's".