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If Hemingway wrote JavaScript

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Re: If Hemingway wrote JavaScript

#31

Post by wisty »

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…

> Great writers can just sit down and write amazing text.

Very few great writers can. Dickens wrote prolifically because he was paid by the page (actually, he published in 32 page installments, so he was paid for each 32 pages); which may be why he's so controversial. They often edit a lot to improve the structure of their work (unless they publish in instalments).

Re: If Hemingway wrote JavaScript

#32

Post by jrajav »

nadam wrote: post #23

I don't know Hemmingway, but given this description: "No surprises here. Code reduced to its essentials with no word or variable wasted. It’s not fancy; maybe its even a little pedantic - but that’s the beauty of Hemingway’s writing. No need for elaborate logic or clever variable names. It’s plain and its clear and it does what it has to - and nothing more." I am not sure why he did not choose this style: function fi…

Maybe I'm alone in thinking this, but I find the article version to be much more faithful to "no elaborate logic or clever variable names." Most programmers are intimately familiar with for loops and the 'i' index variable convention by now, and also wouldn't have trouble deciphering a simple one-liner like that push, but it's still more obscure than the original.

To single out for loops in particular, they've always struck me as a little too obfuscated and messy compared to the benefits they provide. It's a large, awkward word that nevertheless remains a dependable part of everyone's vocabulary, so we let it stick around. But should we?

Re: If Hemingway wrote JavaScript

#33

Post by andreasvc »

arnsholt wrote: post #17
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…

> I don't think any author writes in linear, unidirectional process.

Yes, people do. On the extreme end you have the stream-of-consciousness style. E.g., on the road was written on a typewriter with a series of sheets of paper joined together to avoid interruptions. I also think I remember Neal Stephenson saying in a talk that the writing should come out naturally, not sculpted word for word. When it doesn't, it's called writer's block; a programmer's block on the other hand is not really a thing.

Text is typically read linearly, so it's also easier to write that way. Code, except for the very simplest, jumps around from function to function so it's going to require some additional planning.

Re: If Hemingway wrote JavaScript

#34

Post by lmm »

Am I alone in finding this ridiculously pretentious? I got as far as the mocking olde-worlde "shakespeare" comments before giving up.

Javascript is not a better language than others (in fact it's a far worse language), and it's downright insulting to put words in the mouth of someone like Hemingway to try and make yourself feel better.

Re: If Hemingway wrote JavaScript

#36

Post by dmorgan »

lmm wrote: post #34

Am I alone in finding this ridiculously pretentious? I got as far as the mocking olde-worlde "shakespeare" comments before giving up. Javascript is not a better language than others (in fact it's a far worse language), and it's downright insulting to put words in the mouth of someone like Hemingway to try and make yourself feel better.

>Am I alone in finding this ridiculously pretentious?

No, but you must be among the few not getting the joke or not being stuck-up to see that IT IS a joke post.

I mean, "it's downright insulting to put words in the mouth of someone like Hemingway to try and make yourself feel better."

Really?

>Javascript is not a better language than others (in fact it's a far worse language)

Even if that was true (which is highly debatable, because a language is not just it's syntax, or even it's semantics), it doesn't have anything to do with the post (besides it being about Javascript).

Re: If Hemingway wrote JavaScript

#37

Post by PuerkitoBio »

lmm wrote: post #34

Am I alone in finding this ridiculously pretentious? I got as far as the mocking olde-worlde "shakespeare" comments before giving up. Javascript is not a better language than others (in fact it's a far worse language), and it's downright insulting to put words in the mouth of someone like Hemingway to try and make yourself feel better.

This is fun. Remember fun?

Re: If Hemingway wrote JavaScript

#40

Post by lmm »

PuerkitoBio wrote: post #37
lmm wrote: post #34

Am I alone in finding this ridiculously pretentious? I got as far as the mocking olde-worlde "shakespeare" comments before giving up. Javascript is not a better language than others (in fact it's a far worse language), and it's downright insulting to put words in the mouth of someone like Hemingway to try and make yourself feel better.

This is fun. Remember fun?

I thought fun wasn't allowed on HN
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