5 ms·

What's striking about this writing style is that (as a junior dev) it's a lot easier to understand what he's doing. By sticking to jokes and a simple style, I

What's striking about this writing style is that (as a junior dev) it's a lot easier to understand what he's doing. By sticking to jokes and a simple style, I never felt confused or lost in lingo.

pdkl95 11y ago
"too much medium, not enough message" The writing style works because those jokes, asides, and little mannerisms that are normally excluded from "serious" writing are part of how we think. When we refine our writing (or speaking) to - supposedly to make it less jumbled and easier to read - we usually end up removing a lot of the little details that made up the original thought. The writing may have much better grammar and organization, but real thought isn't perfectly organized and we end up losing some of the "character" in the original idea. (this may be good or bad, depending on the situation) Vi Hart has an amazing overview[1] of this concept, in which she discusses the very wise words of the Edmund Snow Carpenter in his[2] book "They Became What They Beheld". The trouble with knowing what to say and saying it clearly & fully, is that clear speaking is generally obsolete thinking. Clear statement is like an art object: it is the afterlife of the process which called it into being. The process itself is the significant step and, especially at the beginning, is often incomplete & uncertain. The best way to write will always depend on what the goals are, but in general the further away from the original thought you get, the more writing and other creative ideas tend to degrade. Incidentally, this tendency of a thought to degrade the further it gets from it's origin is also how plans become policy: [3]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm-Jjvqu3U4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm-Jjvqu3U4 [2] probably co-written - or at least "heavily influenced" - by Marshal McLuhan [3] http://ogun.stanford.edu/~bnayfeh/plan.html http://ogun.stanford.edu/~bnayfeh/plan.html (very mild NSFW language of the form "____ happens")
- Outdoorsman 11y ago
  >>The best way to write will always depend on what the goals are, but in general the further away from the original thought you get, the more writing and other creative ideas tend to degrade.<< So very true... Open a vein...share yourself...reveal yourself...share what you've learned and let the excitement you felt while discovering it flow... For most writers, the majority of the time, your true audience will "get" both you and the ideas you're trying to share... Sometimes you'll expand the size of your potential audience with raw enthusiasm, even when they have no idea what you're talking about...
  - EC1 11y ago
    What's with the ellipses? Always so awkward reading messages from people who always do the ellipses thing.
    - fao_ 11y ago
      I think in some cases it is because people are taught that Comma Splicing Is Bad. But imo Ellipse Splicing Is Worse (and should probably be Considered Harmful ;) ). Commas or Em Dashes[0] are better, clearer, and (AFAIK) more grammatically correct. [0]: http://www.thepunctuationguide.com/em-dash.html http://www.thepunctuationguide.com/em-dash.html
flatline 11y ago
As a not-so-junior dev, I didn't think he was all that funny half the time, and there was enough extraneous verbiage that I didn't bother parsing it all to find out what he was actually doing. I like the humorous style, but IMO this was badly in need of a once (or twice)-over to clean it up.
- yitchelle 11y ago
  I agree with you. It must be an youth generation thing, I am in my mid 40s. At times, I find his writing style rather annoying, it feels like one of those TV adverts you see at 1am in the morning. It is a pity because the content is quite interesting but we are here discussing about his writing style??
notliketherest 11y ago
Do yourself and your career a favor and never refer to yourself as a junior dev ever again.
rconti 11y ago
Yup, and it feels more train of thought which also makes it easier to follow. I loved it.
baby 11y ago
I was thinking at the same thing today reading some tutorial. You have these serious ass tutorials that are an horror to read. And then you have these gems, these very informal tutorials with jokes and slangs and ... and reading them is a pleasure. I guess if you're a serious company like Apple, you can't really have that kind of tutorial for iOS dev. But that would really help.
- wingerlang 11y ago
  They can be funny, but it gets old really really fast.
- digi_owl 11y ago
  I find myself reminded of the "for dummies" series of books. they are written in a humorous tone, and intersperse joke drawings between the chapters.
  - jaybosamiya 11y ago
    So are the "Head First" series of books. I would definitely recommend taking a look at them :)
  - traviscj 11y ago
    I have wanted to write a series of "X for mathematically inclined idiots" for several years. If you're going to pick a baseline...
    - diabeetusman 11y ago
      I'd probably buy one or two. In college, I was a mechanical engineer living with a CompSci major, CompE major, and a CompSci / CompE double-major. I'd occasionally stop them when they were explaining things to me with "Explain like I'm a MechE". Slightly less self-deprecating than "mathematically inclined idiot", but same gist. Because of this, I was also quite useful as a rubber duck for debugging.
- davnicwil 11y ago
grimoald 11y ago
Exactly. I'm guessing the reason is that a funny style implies a more personal and subjective sight on the things it describes, and that means it often distinguishes the important and complicated parts from the trivial ones. Serious texts often tend to threat everything the same and you have to think of the practical impact yourself.

What's striking about this writing style is that (as a junior dev) it's a lot easier to understand what he's doing. By sticking to jokes and a simple style, I never felt confused or lost in lingo.

pdkl95 11y ago

"too much medium, not enough message" The writing style works because those jokes, asides, and little mannerisms that are normally excluded from "serious" writing are part of how we think. When we refine our writing (or speaking) to - supposedly to make it less jumbled and easier to read - we usually end up removing a lot of the little details that made up the original thought. The writing may have much better grammar and organization, but real thought isn't perfectly organized and we end up losing some of the "character" in the original idea. (this may be good or bad, depending on the situation) Vi Hart has an amazing overview[1] of this concept, in which she discusses the very wise words of the Edmund Snow Carpenter in his[2] book "They Became What They Beheld". The trouble with knowing what to say and saying it clearly & fully, is that clear speaking is generally obsolete thinking. Clear statement is like an art object: it is the afterlife of the process which called it into being. The process itself is the significant step and, especially at the beginning, is often incomplete & uncertain. The best way to write will always depend on what the goals are, but in general the further away from the original thought you get, the more writing and other creative ideas tend to degrade. Incidentally, this tendency of a thought to degrade the further it gets from it's origin is also how plans become policy: [3]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm-Jjvqu3U4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm-Jjvqu3U4 [2] probably co-written - or at least "heavily influenced" - by Marshal McLuhan [3] http://ogun.stanford.edu/~bnayfeh/plan.html http://ogun.stanford.edu/~bnayfeh/plan.html (very mild NSFW language of the form "____ happens")

Outdoorsman 11y ago
>>The best way to write will always depend on what the goals are, but in general the further away from the original thought you get, the more writing and other creative ideas tend to degrade.<< So very true... Open a vein...share yourself...reveal yourself...share what you've learned and let the excitement you felt while discovering it flow... For most writers, the majority of the time, your true audience will "get" both you and the ideas you're trying to share... Sometimes you'll expand the size of your potential audience with raw enthusiasm, even when they have no idea what you're talking about...
- EC1 11y ago
  What's with the ellipses? Always so awkward reading messages from people who always do the ellipses thing.
  - fao_ 11y ago
    I think in some cases it is because people are taught that Comma Splicing Is Bad. But imo Ellipse Splicing Is Worse (and should probably be Considered Harmful ;) ). Commas or Em Dashes[0] are better, clearer, and (AFAIK) more grammatically correct. [0]: http://www.thepunctuationguide.com/em-dash.html http://www.thepunctuationguide.com/em-dash.html

flatline 11y ago

As a not-so-junior dev, I didn't think he was all that funny half the time, and there was enough extraneous verbiage that I didn't bother parsing it all to find out what he was actually doing. I like the humorous style, but IMO this was badly in need of a once (or twice)-over to clean it up.

yitchelle 11y ago
I agree with you. It must be an youth generation thing, I am in my mid 40s. At times, I find his writing style rather annoying, it feels like one of those TV adverts you see at 1am in the morning. It is a pity because the content is quite interesting but we are here discussing about his writing style??

notliketherest 11y ago

Do yourself and your career a favor and never refer to yourself as a junior dev ever again.

rconti 11y ago

Yup, and it feels more train of thought which also makes it easier to follow. I loved it.

baby 11y ago

I was thinking at the same thing today reading some tutorial. You have these serious ass tutorials that are an horror to read. And then you have these gems, these very informal tutorials with jokes and slangs and ... and reading them is a pleasure. I guess if you're a serious company like Apple, you can't really have that kind of tutorial for iOS dev. But that would really help.

wingerlang 11y ago
They can be funny, but it gets old really really fast.
digi_owl 11y ago
I find myself reminded of the "for dummies" series of books. they are written in a humorous tone, and intersperse joke drawings between the chapters.
- jaybosamiya 11y ago
  So are the "Head First" series of books. I would definitely recommend taking a look at them :)
- traviscj 11y ago
  I have wanted to write a series of "X for mathematically inclined idiots" for several years. If you're going to pick a baseline...
  - diabeetusman 11y ago
    I'd probably buy one or two. In college, I was a mechanical engineer living with a CompSci major, CompE major, and a CompSci / CompE double-major. I'd occasionally stop them when they were explaining things to me with "Explain like I'm a MechE". Slightly less self-deprecating than "mathematically inclined idiot", but same gist. Because of this, I was also quite useful as a rubber duck for debugging.
davnicwil 11y ago

grimoald 11y ago

Exactly. I'm guessing the reason is that a funny style implies a more personal and subjective sight on the things it describes, and that means it often distinguishes the important and complicated parts from the trivial ones. Serious texts often tend to threat everything the same and you have to think of the practical impact yourself.