Week 3: CSC148, Writing For Geeks

I'd very much like to start off with the fact that I've always thought that writing was important for geeks/nerds.  Writing is a method of communication, and communication is vital in programming.  Whether you're trying to communicate to an audience or you need to communicate to a computer what it needs to do, you need to be able to understand and specify what you want.

For example, when you create a class, you have methods, variables, and objects associated with it.  However, how do you explain that to someone who can't code or read code?  Well, you describe it.  Say you have a class that takes input from a user and checks certain things--how many letters it has, how many syllables it has, perhaps even what words it rhymes with.  From there, you should be able to describe what the class does and how.

It works the same visa versa, as seen in class and in our labs.  We're given thorough descriptions of what to program.  From that description, we ascertain what we need to do and how.  For the class I described above, variables could include something that keeps track of the user's input and what is being printed back to the user.  Methods would be calculating how many letters the word contains, how many syllables it has, what words it rhymes with, getting the input, and giving an output.

I think it's very important that geeks write about programming and coding.  It helps others understand what's going on, and it helps the programmer understand what is expected of them.  Being vague or not expressing correctly what you want doesn't help.  It's like implementing code--you have to tell the computer exactly what to do, or you won't get what you want back.  Writing is important, especially when you're a geek.

Best Wishes,
Dominique