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If we could so readily write this stuff down so that we can come back to it, we could have already banged it in through the keyboard and be done. What's going

If we could so readily write this stuff down so that we can come back to it, we could have already banged it in through the keyboard and be done. What's going on in a good programmer's head is going to be complex and detailed, because we need to understand it to be able to write it, and that basically means we're running the code in our heads before we commit it to a screen. We're not "setting [ourselves] up for failure". We're solving hard problems with the expectation that we won't have to come back to it in an hour's time just to erase all our poorly planned code and start over. It's not like writing an email--we're switching modes over to thinking like a computer and this requires concentration and focus.

twblalock 8y ago
I'm a programmer too, and I am well aware of the complexities involved in the job. You don't need to explain them to me. I think you're overselling your point quite a bit. There are ways to deal with the mental challenges that are superior to keeping the whole thing in your head.
- evilDagmar 8y ago
  Sure, if you don't mind writing garbage code. Otherwise, if you don't understand it, you can't say for sure it's correct, and it's usually wrong.
- true_religion 8y ago
  Imread omce that there are two kinds of programmers: those who have a mental model that keep the whole system in mind, and work out the next atep after the gesalt form, and those who have a model that is disjunct thus are able to stop, and pick things up later. Early on I realized I am the first kind. Perhaps you are the latter?
  - Doxin 8y ago
    In my experience programming is almost fractically complex. No matter how far you subdivide the problem you're solving you're making a tradeoff between the complexity of the problem you're solving and the complexity of the tree of sub-problems. And even ignoring that: writing down abstract concepts is hard. Doing so is (to me) as distracting as dropping my work completely and doing something else for a while. IMO the solution isn't never being disturbed and it isn't writing everything down either. It's keeping disturbances as few as reasonable and being able to get back to it quickly, even if that means rebuilding your mental model.

twblalock 8y ago

I'm a programmer too, and I am well aware of the complexities involved in the job. You don't need to explain them to me. I think you're overselling your point quite a bit. There are ways to deal with the mental challenges that are superior to keeping the whole thing in your head.

evilDagmar 8y ago
Sure, if you don't mind writing garbage code. Otherwise, if you don't understand it, you can't say for sure it's correct, and it's usually wrong.
true_religion 8y ago
Imread omce that there are two kinds of programmers: those who have a mental model that keep the whole system in mind, and work out the next atep after the gesalt form, and those who have a model that is disjunct thus are able to stop, and pick things up later. Early on I realized I am the first kind. Perhaps you are the latter?
- Doxin 8y ago
  In my experience programming is almost fractically complex. No matter how far you subdivide the problem you're solving you're making a tradeoff between the complexity of the problem you're solving and the complexity of the tree of sub-problems. And even ignoring that: writing down abstract concepts is hard. Doing so is (to me) as distracting as dropping my work completely and doing something else for a while. IMO the solution isn't never being disturbed and it isn't writing everything down either. It's keeping disturbances as few as reasonable and being able to get back to it quickly, even if that means rebuilding your mental model.