3 ms·

The thing is that, at least in my experience, "feels readable" is indeed emotional territory. More specifically people relate favourably to things they are comf

by pwm 6y ago

The thing is that, at least in my experience, "feels readable" is indeed emotional territory. More specifically people relate favourably to things they are comfortable with and most programmers are comfortable with ALGOL/C syntax. Show them something unfamiliar, eg. Haskell, and they will say it's weird and unreadable. That statement is usually not based on careful assessment, it's a gut reaction.

karatestomp 6y ago
Everyone got a ton of identity, equality, and proof-based stuff in math classes. Very few programmers, even the non-college grads and those who started young, had none of that before writing Hello World. Many of us found imperative (and other non-mathy) programming styles immediately easier to understand, regardless. Me, I have to translate mathematical statements into "programmy" style to have a hope of understanding it ("OK so what does this term/operation 'do' in isolation?") and keep a crib sheet handy for WTF all the single-character bits (so, usually all of it) mean. [EDIT] my point being, that preference doesn't seem especially "emotional" to me.
- pwm 6y ago
  > Everyone got a ton of identity, equality, and proof-based stuff in math classes. Sure and some people like it some hate it (according to western popular culture most people hate it). Also even if someone loves doing school algebra if no one tells them that you can write code that way they'll never know. If you only expose them to imperative Hello World code then of course they'll relate to that. Conditioning, familiarity and experience matter a lot. > Many of us found imperative ... programming styles immediately easier Immediately as-in you've been shown an imperative and a declarative Hello World and related to the former? Or you've only been shown the former? See my earlier point. > I have to translate mathematical statements into "programmy" style Same point as above. I did that as well for ages in the past, now I have to do the opposite. > my point being, that preference doesn't seem especially "emotional" to me. Maybe emotional is indeed the wrong word. But it's definitely not logical either and I'd also say it's not inherent, ie. people can change (I know I did) but at that point we'll dive into nature vs. nurture and that never ends :)

by pwm 6y ago

karatestomp 6y ago

Everyone got a ton of identity, equality, and proof-based stuff in math classes. Very few programmers, even the non-college grads and those who started young, had none of that before writing Hello World. Many of us found imperative (and other non-mathy) programming styles immediately easier to understand, regardless. Me, I have to translate mathematical statements into "programmy" style to have a hope of understanding it ("OK so what does this term/operation 'do' in isolation?") and keep a crib sheet handy for WTF all the single-character bits (so, usually all of it) mean. [EDIT] my point being, that preference doesn't seem especially "emotional" to me.

pwm 6y ago
> Everyone got a ton of identity, equality, and proof-based stuff in math classes. Sure and some people like it some hate it (according to western popular culture most people hate it). Also even if someone loves doing school algebra if no one tells them that you can write code that way they'll never know. If you only expose them to imperative Hello World code then of course they'll relate to that. Conditioning, familiarity and experience matter a lot. > Many of us found imperative ... programming styles immediately easier Immediately as-in you've been shown an imperative and a declarative Hello World and related to the former? Or you've only been shown the former? See my earlier point. > I have to translate mathematical statements into "programmy" style Same point as above. I did that as well for ages in the past, now I have to do the opposite. > my point being, that preference doesn't seem especially "emotional" to me. Maybe emotional is indeed the wrong word. But it's definitely not logical either and I'd also say it's not inherent, ie. people can change (I know I did) but at that point we'll dive into nature vs. nurture and that never ends :)