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Hm, I thought the point of pseudocode was that it is simple to write down, and everyone understands it. This misses both of those advantages.
by kutkloon7 10y ago
Hm, I thought the point of pseudocode was that it is simple to write down, and everyone understands it.
This misses both of those advantages.
- seanmcdirmid 10y ago"Everyone understands it" is not a goal of psuedocode.
- rootlocus 10y agoSince it abstracts a programming language and allows for simplified syntax and inline explanations, more people can understand it. Why would you think that's not a goal?
- seanmcdirmid 10y agoEveryone understands it implies that everyone understands it, regardless of background or knowledge or whether they know programming or not.
- EpicEng 10y agoOnly to the extremely pedantic.
- seanmcdirmid 10y agoNot pedant at all, I'm sure parent meant exactly what they said.
- EpicEng 10y agoNo reasonable person here would regard "everyone" to include e.g. Sally in accounting. Psuedo code is obviously for people who write code.
- seanmcdirmid 10y agoHe did include sally in accounting below though. This is just the standard anti-new PL rant applied to pseudo code.
- nickpsecurity 10y agoThat's an explicit goal of pseudocode. It's implied by the fact that it's used by both laypersons and programmers to explore algorithms for any sub-field of CompSci or application in IT. It's the level of detail and symbols they modify when targeting specific groups.
- seanmcdirmid 10y agoIt really isn't. Psuedocode is a notation to move design along, to communicate and iterate. It isn't meant for the 6 year old kid or non programming PHB people manager, laypersons if you might say. Psuedocode notations require learning investments just like any other notations.
- akkartik 10y agoAnother attempt at articulating what I think is your point: languages have network effects. You're less effective programming in a language if others don't understand what you did. But the notation of OP is intended to not require network effects. Pseudocode is often intended purely to help one privately think through a problem. Even if nobody adopts this notation, it might be useful to you. Does that seem on the right track? I don't mean to put words in your mouth.
- seanmcdirmid 10y agoI agree with this. The notation might also apply to a smallish group of people, like mathematicians in a certain field who use it to communicate and work together. Notations are powerful like programming languages, if you can reuse an existing one or use ones other people you need to work with already know, there is an advantage to that.
- akkartik 10y agoRight. I was focusing on the extreme ends of the spectrum to sharpen the contrast.
- 10y ago
- justinpombrio 10y agoOne of the first sentences on Wikipedia about psuedocode: > The purpose of using pseudocode is that it is easier for people to understand than conventional programming language code, and [...]. So in common usage, "psuedocode" is supposed to be easily understood. I imagine that that isn't one of the goals of this new notation, though. It looks more useful for internal use (e.g., within your team) than external use (e.g., a whiteboard interview), since it's basically unreadable if you haven't seen it before.
- seanmcdirmid 10y agoYes, but this is not even close to what parent stated. All notation has a learning curve, PHBs won't just be able to understand them without putting in some effort.
- geofft 10y agoSorry, is this entire subthread an argument about whether "everyone" means "everyone who knows programming" or "literally everyone"?