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Re: natural/native language capabilities (was: unchecked conversion warning.)

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ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) writes:

> Jim Janney <jjanney@shell.xmission.com> writes:
>>If I ever found myself screening applicants for a programming job (not
>>something that's ever likely to happen) I would be very tempted to ask
>>them to write a short essay.  If you can write clearly then I know you
>>can think clearly too.
>
>       »I've found that some of the best [Software ]developers
>       of all are English majors. They'll often graduate with
>       no programming experience at all, and certainly without
>       a clue about the difference between DRAM and EPROM.
>
>       But they can write. That's the art of conveying
>       information concisely and clearly. Software development
>       and writing are both the art of knowing what you're going
>       to do, and then lucidly expressing your ideas.«
>
> http://praisecurseandrecurse.blogspot.com/2007/03/english-majors-as-programmers.html
>
>       »Besides a mathematical inclination, an exceptionally
>       good mastery of one's native tongue is the most vital
>       asset of a competent programmer.«
>
>     Edsgar Dijkstra
>
>       »While sloppy writing does not invariably mean sloppy
>       thinking, we've generally found the correlation to be
>       strong -- and we have no use for sloppy thinkers.
>       If you can't yet write competently, learn to.«
>
>     Eric Raymond
>
> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html#skills4
>
>       »The narrative measures of conjunction use, event
>       content, perspective shift, and mental state reference
>       were significantly predictive of later Math scores.«
>
> http://www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/%7Edoneill/papers/Storytelling%20and%20math.pdf

Not an original thought, obviously :-)

There are probably counter-arguments to be made, but I don't recollect
ever seeing one.  Not a well-written one, anyway...

-- 
Jim Janney

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unchecked conversion warning. Jens - 2012-05-30 15:32 +0200
  Re: unchecked conversion warning. Andreas Leitgeb <avl@gamma.logic.tuwien.ac.at> - 2012-05-30 13:48 +0000
    Re: unchecked conversion warning. Jens - 2012-05-30 15:52 +0200
  Re: unchecked conversion warning. Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2012-05-30 07:54 -0700
    Re: unchecked conversion warning. Jens - 2012-05-31 22:23 +0200
      Re: unchecked conversion warning. Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2012-05-31 13:40 -0700
      Re: unchecked conversion warning. Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-05-31 16:50 -0400
        Re: unchecked conversion warning. Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2012-05-31 17:18 -0700
        Re: unchecked conversion warning. Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2012-06-01 08:14 +0200
          Re: unchecked conversion warning. Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-06-01 08:48 -0400
            Re: unchecked conversion warning. Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2012-06-01 07:32 -0700
            Re: unchecked conversion warning. Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2012-06-10 12:16 -0700
              Re: unchecked conversion warning. Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2012-06-10 22:08 +0000
                Re: unchecked conversion warning. Lew <noone@lewscanon.com> - 2012-06-10 17:09 -0700
                Re: unchecked conversion warning. Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2012-06-11 01:31 +0000
        Re: unchecked conversion warning. Jim Janney <jjanney@shell.xmission.com> - 2012-06-01 08:41 -0600
          Re: unchecked conversion warning. Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2012-06-01 08:44 -0700
            Re: unchecked conversion warning. markspace <-@.> - 2012-06-01 09:08 -0700
            Re: unchecked conversion warning. Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2012-06-01 09:31 -0700
            Re: unchecked conversion warning. Jim Janney <jjanney@shell.xmission.com> - 2012-06-01 11:02 -0600
            Re: unchecked conversion warning. Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-06-01 13:54 -0400
              Re: unchecked conversion warning. Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2012-06-01 16:44 -0700
                Re: unchecked conversion warning. Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-06-01 20:24 -0400
                Re: unchecked conversion warning. Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2012-06-01 19:36 -0700
          Re: natural/native language capabilities (was: unchecked conversion warning.) Jim Janney <jjanney@shell.xmission.com> - 2012-06-01 11:01 -0600
        Re: unchecked conversion warning. Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2012-06-10 12:13 -0700
        Re: unchecked conversion warning. Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2012-06-20 19:28 -0400
  Re: unchecked conversion warning. Broad Liyn <broadliyn@gmail.com> - 2012-06-10 21:52 -0700
    Re: unchecked conversion warning. Lew <noone@lewscanon.com> - 2012-06-10 23:50 -0700
    Re: unchecked conversion warning. Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2012-06-11 00:06 -0700
      Re: unchecked conversion warning. Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2012-06-16 15:17 +0200
        Re: unchecked conversion warning. Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2012-06-18 12:28 -0700
          Re: unchecked conversion warning. Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> - 2012-06-19 23:14 +0200
            Re: unchecked conversion warning. Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2012-06-19 17:15 -0700
      Re: unchecked conversion warning. Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2012-06-20 19:22 -0400
    Re: unchecked conversion warning. Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2012-06-20 19:20 -0400

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