Coding and writing are alike

Published on 18 January 2021, in #coding, #writing

I see more and more similarities between coding and writing. Here's one advice on writing:

Concision isn't the number of words on the page; it's how long it takes readers to process what's on the page. You need to put readers in the equation all the time. Language is social.

— Larry McEnerney (from Writing Beyond the Academy)

The same applies to writing code. Concision isn't about the lines of code or short variable names; it's about how long it takes fellow devs to process and understand code. You need to put fellow devs in the equation all the time. Code needs to be painfully obvious.

Code is social.

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This blog is written by Marcel Krcah, an independent consultant for product-oriented software engineering. If you like what you read, sign up for my newsletter