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GeneralRe: Secret government info confirms first known interstellar object on Earth, scientists say Pin
MarkTJohnson8-Apr-22 9:16
professionalMarkTJohnson8-Apr-22 9:16 
GeneralRe: Secret government info confirms first known interstellar object on Earth, scientists say Pin
Daniel Pfeffer9-Apr-22 7:04
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NewsWhy literate programming might help you write better code Pin
Kent Sharkey7-Apr-22 9:46
staffKent Sharkey7-Apr-22 9:46 
GeneralRe: Why literate programming might help you write better code Pin
David O'Neil7-Apr-22 15:42
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GeneralRe: Why literate programming might help you write better code PinPopular
Bernhard Hiller7-Apr-22 20:48
Bernhard Hiller7-Apr-22 20:48 
GeneralRe: Why literate programming might help you write better code Pin
Greg Utas8-Apr-22 6:05
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GeneralRe: Why literate programming might help you write better code Pin
David O'Neil8-Apr-22 6:33
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GeneralRe: Why literate programming might help you write better code Pin
trønderen8-Apr-22 11:40
trønderen8-Apr-22 11:40 
Way back in my student days - read: When research was published on paper, not on the net, so I never had a URL - I read a study where a large group of programming students were split in two and given the same program code to study. One half got the code laid out in the traditional 'programming' way, split on a large number of short lines (e.g. if-condition on one line, then-clause and else-clauses on separate lines). For the other half, the code was laid out much more like a traditional prose text, with no 'artificial' line breaks or indents, but logical sections indicated typographically the way a paragraph usually is indicated.

The time to study the code was deliberately set so short that you couldn't expect everyone to master all the details. The students were given a test to see how much they had picked up. It turned out that those who read the 'prose text formatting' version of the code scored markedly better on the test; they had a much better understanding of the logic of the code than those who had been reading it as short, 'structured' code setup.

Sorry, I do not have a photocopy of the article, and no URL (they hardly existed at the time). This is all from memory. I do not remember the programming language.

There is another element: In those days, students were used to book reading, both fiction prose and professional prose. 'TL:DR' didn't exist even at the conceptual level. Besides, commonly used programming languages tended to use more word symbols, being textually closer to common prose. Also, if you have been reading structured layout for forty years (and not a single novel during that time) is different from having started coding two or three years ago. So there is no guarantee that repeating the experiment today would give the same result.

Yet I found it fascinating then, and to a certain degree I it still fascinates me, that in a controlled test, the prose way of describing procedures turned out to be better than the very explicitly structured layout we all use today.

One may wonder why. In Norwegian, we have a way of speech, 'not seeing the forest for all the trees'. It is there, right in front of you, but you don't see it. Maybe you see the program structure, the block nesting of blocks, yet you have a hard time seeing the purpose of the structure, what it is used for. Especially when we are to explain a method to non-programmers, we might reconsider presenting the solution in an excessively 'structured' format. The audience might be overwhelmed by the structure, the trees, unable to see forest.
NewsSurvey ahows increased focus on modernizing IT, retiring apps Pin
Kent Sharkey7-Apr-22 9:46
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GeneralRe: Survey ahows increased focus on modernizing IT, retiring apps Pin
Nelek8-Apr-22 11:20
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NewsRust 2024 roadmap focuses on developer ease of use Pin
Kent Sharkey7-Apr-22 8:01
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GeneralRe: Rust 2024 roadmap focuses on developer ease of use Pin
raddevus8-Apr-22 5:03
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NewsProject “Zuck Bucks”: Meta plans virtual coin after cryptocurrency flop Pin
Kent Sharkey7-Apr-22 8:01
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GeneralRe: Project “Zuck Bucks”: Meta plans virtual coin after cryptocurrency flop Pin
obermd8-Apr-22 3:24
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NewsAnnouncing .NET Community Toolkit v8.0.0 Preview 3 Pin
Kent Sharkey7-Apr-22 6:31
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NewsWindows 11's new security feature is so secure you'll need to reinstall the OS to use it Pin
Kent Sharkey7-Apr-22 6:31
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GeneralRe: Windows 11's new security feature is so secure you'll need to reinstall the OS to use it Pin
Daniel Pfeffer8-Apr-22 0:32
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GeneralRe: Windows 11's new security feature is so secure you'll need to reinstall the OS to use it Pin
Dan Neely8-Apr-22 3:26
Dan Neely8-Apr-22 3:26 
NewsArtificial Intelligence For CEOs Pin
Kent Sharkey7-Apr-22 6:16
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GeneralRe: Artificial Intelligence For CEOs Pin
GuyThiebaut7-Apr-22 22:21
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Nelek8-Apr-22 11:24
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NewsCan you name top C# IDEs provided by Microsoft? Pin
Kent Sharkey6-Apr-22 10:01
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NewsWindows 3.1 is officially 30 years old Pin
Kent Sharkey6-Apr-22 9:46
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GeneralRe: Windows 3.1 is officially 30 years old Pin
den2k886-Apr-22 20:34
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JokeRe: Windows 3.1 is officially 30 years old Pin
Daniel Pfeffer6-Apr-22 21:08
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