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Re: If "rigid rules" are the wrong way...

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"Chris Uppal" <chris.uppal@metagnostic.REMOVE-THIS.org> wrote in message 
news:CuWdnfNWK9cfwE3SnZ2dnUVZ8iudnZ2d@bt.com...
> mike3 wrote:
>
>> [..] So where does
>> one get that knowledge, so that one can then actually do it right, and
>> after doing it right, not worry so much about "smells" and the like,
>> since then one will be able to know when to apply the rule and when
>> not to. Which books would one need? But I suspect also a lot of it is
>> practice work. But first you need to know the right thing to
>> practice... otherwise you can end up developing bad habits.
>
> How does one learn to write good English ?   It's certainly not a matter 
> of
> memorising the "rules" of English (either the real grammar or the long 
> list of
> forbidden forms that people do actually use).  How does one learn to write 
> good
> poetry, or a good news report ?
>
> Obviously practise is part of it.  Good examples too.  But they are much 
> more
> easily found in English than in programming -- if only because reading a 
> good
> book is more fun than reading a good program.  OTOH nobody is paying you 
> to
> learn to write better (or speak better) English.  Probably.

If you think about it a lot more, then a book is nothing like a program, 
other than they are both represented as text.

A program is more like a machine than a linear narrative. Or rather, a set 
of plans and instructions to implement the machine. Often, these days, with 
a million moving parts.

And besides, programming usually involves using someone else's idea of a 
'language' imposed on the underlying English, a major obstacle to expressing 
yourself as you want.

> One is to accept fully that programming is an act of communication 
> (talking of
> "instructing the computer to do something" is simply missing the point). 
> Think
> of your code (and comments) as yourself addressing the hypothetical 
> audience,
> explaining your understanding of the problem domain, and your approach to
> solving the various issues that arise.  "Programming as oratory", you 
> might say
> ;-)   This is the core and the heart of the subject.

Good luck with that when your language requires you to write stuff like 
this:

CRTIMP __p_sig_fn_t __cdecl __MINGW_NOTHROW    signal(int, __p_sig_fn_t);

-- 
Bartc 

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If "rigid rules" are the wrong way... mike3 <mike4ty4@yahoo.com> - 2012-06-06 23:32 -0700
  Re: If "rigid rules" are the wrong way... "Chris Uppal" <chris.uppal@metagnostic.REMOVE-THIS.org> - 2012-06-07 08:50 +0100
    Re: If "rigid rules" are the wrong way... "Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de> - 2012-06-07 09:55 +0200
      Re: If "rigid rules" are the wrong way... "Chris Uppal" <chris.uppal@metagnostic.REMOVE-THIS.org> - 2012-06-09 11:25 +0100
    Re: If "rigid rules" are the wrong way... mike3 <mike4ty4@yahoo.com> - 2012-06-07 01:39 -0700
      Re: If "rigid rules" are the wrong way... Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2012-06-07 06:43 -0700
      Re: If "rigid rules" are the wrong way... "Chris Uppal" <chris.uppal@metagnostic.REMOVE-THIS.org> - 2012-06-09 11:05 +0100
        Re: If "rigid rules" are the wrong way... "Chris Uppal" <chris.uppal@metagnostic.REMOVE-THIS.org> - 2012-06-09 11:24 +0100
      Re: If "rigid rules" are the wrong way... "Chris Uppal" <chris.uppal@metagnostic.REMOVE-THIS.org> - 2012-06-09 11:15 +0100
    Re: If "rigid rules" are the wrong way... "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2012-06-07 10:55 +0100
      Re: If "rigid rules" are the wrong way... "Chris Uppal" <chris.uppal@metagnostic.REMOVE-THIS.org> - 2012-06-09 10:44 +0100
        Re: If "rigid rules" are the wrong way... "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2012-06-09 12:35 +0100
  Re: If "rigid rules" are the wrong way... Daniel Pitts <newsgroup.nospam@virtualinfinity.net> - 2012-06-07 09:38 -0700
    Re: If "rigid rules" are the wrong way... mike3 <mike4ty4@yahoo.com> - 2012-06-07 14:26 -0700
      Re: If "rigid rules" are the wrong way... Daniel Pitts <newsgroup.nospam@virtualinfinity.net> - 2012-06-07 16:52 -0700

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