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I used to believe that. It's why I picked up coffee script. I thought, the less there is to type, the more you can focus on the problem rather than the code. I

by hasenj 12y ago

I used to believe that. It's why I picked up coffee script. I thought, the less there is to type, the more you can focus on the problem rather than the code. I found out I was wrong. The redundancy actually helps. There's somehow a calming effect in it. I don't know how to put it into words. I found out that I never actually think while typing per se. I have to first jot down my thoughts on paper. Typing out the code becomes almost a mechanical process. I already know what I'm typing, I've figured it all out and put it in paper (or some plain text note in another text editor or note taking app). There's stress in trying to hold it all in your head. That stress is released when you jot things down. Then you can just mechanically write out code with less levels of stress. The explicit syntax means you have more to type but less to think about. I know it sounds paradoxical. But that's been my personal experience.

andyl 12y ago
It doesn't work that way for me - for some reason the syntax makes a huge difference in my productivity and level of energy. Coffeescript works way better than JavaScript, Elixir better than Erlang, Slim better than ERB. It shouldn't make that much of a difference, but it does.
m_mueller 12y ago
It's not paradoxical at all. I think that the more syntax you have (thus shortening the code), the less you can reason about what you write while writing it, because the mental overhead of writing itself goes up. Compare stenography to latin in that regard - stenography is almost never used to write down ideas, only to transcribe.
MichaelGG 12y ago
My hands sometimes get pain and there's a hardwired response that makes me feel awkward, physically, I've I start typing out a lot of repetitive code. When I read Java or most C# code, I just cringe at all the extra crap, at all the pomp and boilerplate. Every time I have to write it, I feel annoyed that I need to type more stuff out like an idiot, because some compiler writer had misguided ideas, or because they already dug enough technical debt to allow more expressivity.

by hasenj 12y ago

andyl 12y ago

It doesn't work that way for me - for some reason the syntax makes a huge difference in my productivity and level of energy. Coffeescript works way better than JavaScript, Elixir better than Erlang, Slim better than ERB. It shouldn't make that much of a difference, but it does.

m_mueller 12y ago

It's not paradoxical at all. I think that the more syntax you have (thus shortening the code), the less you can reason about what you write while writing it, because the mental overhead of writing itself goes up. Compare stenography to latin in that regard - stenography is almost never used to write down ideas, only to transcribe.

MichaelGG 12y ago

My hands sometimes get pain and there's a hardwired response that makes me feel awkward, physically, I've I start typing out a lot of repetitive code. When I read Java or most C# code, I just cringe at all the extra crap, at all the pomp and boilerplate. Every time I have to write it, I feel annoyed that I need to type more stuff out like an idiot, because some compiler writer had misguided ideas, or because they already dug enough technical debt to allow more expressivity.