Writing vs. Hacking
This guy is out of his mind. Writing is harder than programming? Maybe that’s because you’re a better programmer than writer.
I’m an okay writer. If confronted with a situation in which I need to convey a complex or abstract idea using written language, I can (presupposing a working knowledge of the topic) explain it effectively—even, perhaps, with a modest amount of flair. With time to revise, I can do even better.
Programming? Forget about it. I am terrible programmer, and not just because I haven’t spent very much time at it. I remember taking CS 257 (Nonimperative Programming with Scheme) at UNM. I got a C in that class—the only C of my academic career. It was absurdly, unreasonably difficult for me. Even implementing the simple, easy stuff took me hours of interpreting and reinterpreting permutations of code, and frequently I arrived at the solution via trial and error rather than with insight.
I haven’t done much programming since then, but even my forays into Perl, PHP and Applescript (at various points for various reasons) have been characterized by similar bumbling. The code won’t work. I won’t understand why it won’t work. I’ll change an arbitrary detail. It works. I won’t understand why it now works. Or more likely, it never works and I simply give up.
Learning a bit of Ruby has started to change this very slightly, but even so, I will never be a even a moderately competent writer of scripts, to say nothing of being a “programmer.”
Programming is easier than writing? Maybe for you, pal, maybe for you.
EDIT: What concerns me is that if writing is harder than programming, and I am a terrible programmer, then what does that say about my writing?
Don’t answer that.
October 3rd, 2006 at 3:42 pm
Certainly, for Paul Graham it is. He’s pretty much a badass. But even for a humble sysadmin like myself- most of the time, programming IS easier than writing. Either it works or it doesn’t and you get to define what “works” means. I’m a fair to middling writer, if that can be defined by “is capable of writing vaguely coherent prose,” but while I never suffer from anything approximating writer’s block while I’m programming, it’s a constant problem whenever I attempt to write anything.
October 3rd, 2006 at 5:40 pm
Maybe I’m just saying writing is easier because I can fundamentally DO it. If he’s talking about brilliant literariness then I’m just an all-around idiot.
October 3rd, 2006 at 6:35 pm
As usual, you’re wrong on this one. Although I’m not a programmer myself and my HTML is weak – this guy has a point. I think it’s easier to tell when you’ve programmed something wrong – your software/game/webpage won’t work in a really objective way. If you write poorly, it’s most likely subjectively bad.
Writing very elegant code may be an art (an art only other programmers can appreciate), but writing functional code is much easier.
October 3rd, 2006 at 7:58 pm
Alright, Erin, if that is your name, I see your point. I still think it’s fallacious (or at least smacks of fallacy) to say that “it’s hard for me, therefore it’s objectively harder,” though.
October 4th, 2006 at 1:09 am
I disagree with “Erin”.
A piece of code can in fact be “correct” and work but still be completely wrong.
For example, say you have an embedded system, placed in a remote location, that will only serve one client at a time. The server’s purpose is to simply do menial things, like restart the system, do a software update (small, less than 5 megs). Is it wise to implement an object-oriented, multi-threaded application, with an event loop that you yourself coded? Sounds like overkill. It may have worked for years but to do so seems foolish—especially when no one wrote anything down and *I* have to add to it.
Of course, at this point, I think we can make a distinction between programming and software architecture.
If it makes you feel any better: 1) I had a C in that class, too, before I dropped it, 2) It is a hard class, even for CS, 3) Barak was a jerk; the Irish can have him.
October 4th, 2006 at 3:22 pm
I have no idea what MJK is talking about.
But after talking with a computer science friend I’ve come to the conclusion that this is like asking, “Which is harder, Math or English?” It’s a very hard comparison. Writing functional, elegant code is just as difficult as writing great literature.
October 4th, 2006 at 5:13 pm
Well, clearly, we’re comparing apples and oranges. And anyway, I’m not talking about great literature, I’m talking about stylistically appropriate, compelling prose, which seems easy to me but I guess is hard for some people. What seems likely is that I’m giving myself way too much credit.
Are you that Erin, by the way?
October 5th, 2006 at 9:46 am
You are a hopeless snot, Pts, for being able to write so easily. I hope you can back that up with your published works.
Chances are, I am exactly the Erin you think I am – and I have set up your blog feed on livejournal so I remember to read it.
October 5th, 2006 at 10:51 am
See, but I’m not! This whole thing has called into question a skill I thought I had, but perhaps actually don’t!
I mean, I am a snot, but not for this particular reason.