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0 pointshinkley5y ago0 comments

If you can’t tell a story with text, you won’t be able to tell it with code either. The thing that makes people want better documentation is the same thing that makes it difficult to get.

I remember years ago using Ant as a build tool and the only way I figured it out was to Googlestalk the author. Given enough answers to questions in enough places I finally developed a theory of the system. It was still supremely weird to convince it to do certain things but at least I was able to.

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masklinn5y ago

> If you can’t tell a story with text, you won’t be able to tell it with code either.

I couldn't disagree more. Telling a story with words to humans and telling a story with code to a computer are completely different things.

hinkleyOP5y ago

You’re not telling a story to a computer. You’re telling it to your coworkers. The people’s code that’s most frustrating to work with share your philosophy. They are often so convinced they’re right that they can’t even hear constructive criticism. That’s not my opinion, that’s the consensus view shared over lunches and coffees with their coworkers, across many jobs.

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