4 ms·
Why don't you write prose like this? Heylisten,Iunderstandthatotherpeoplefindittroublesome.Thethin gisthatIthinkit'ssomethingpeoplecanlearniftheywant,andIt
by useragent86 7y ago
Why don't you write prose like this?
Heylisten,Iunderstandthatotherpeoplefindittroublesome.Thethin
gisthatIthinkit'ssomethingpeoplecanlearniftheywant,andIthinkt
herearebenefitstodoingso.Ionlyobjecttothelabel"it'sunreadable
"becauseitdemandstheauthor(orsomeoneelse)makeit"readable"tocu
re,whentherightfixistofixtheprogrammer:togivethemtheexperienc
esneededtobeabletoreadit.That'sadmittedlynotveryeasyforthenov
icereadercertainlyitwouldbemuchbetterforthemtowritelessdensea
nduseasmallervocabulary,andthat'swhy,justwithEnglish,westartn
ovicereaderswithlessdensestudymaterialsthatutiliseasmallervoc
abulary.Howeverit'samistaketothinkthatjustbecausebusinessEngl
ishisabitmoredensethanGoodnightMoon,thatit'sunreadable,andit'
saworseonetothinkitslackofaccessibilityiswithoutsomevaluetoth
ewriter.Ishouldthinkpeopleshouldwanttoseekoutthatvalueinexact
lythesameway.
- geocar 7y agoBecause I'm not speaking to someone who speaks that way. Arthur Whitney once wrote: One day I asked him, "Roger, do you do math in English or Cantonese?" He smiled at me and said, "I do it in Cantonese because it's faster and it's completely regular."
- useragent86 7y agoThe point you have made repeatedly is that other programmers should aspire to use the style you prefer, even if they currently find it difficult to read. In this comment you make the opposite point: that one should write in a style readers will most easily understand as they currently are. You may think, because one example is of code and the other of prose, that those points are not in conflict--but they are.