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-----Original Message-----
From: Downing, David
Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2009 9:04 AM
Subject: Should software documenters learn to read code?
>(A) technical writer who starts reading code might start thinking this
way
>as well.
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It all depends. If you look at code as a programming language, it's a
lot like any other language. You may learn enough Italian for your trip
to Italy so you can veer away from your English-speaking tour group and
walk around the market or go to a restaurant without being totally lost,
but there is a big difference between being able to find out where the
nearest bathroom is and being fluent in a language.
Being able to look at code and understand some of it is a useful skill,
but you don't need to become immersed in the World of Code. And I think
you can easily read code and not go down the path of starting to think
of the mechanics of a program - you can stay a lot more detached from
the mechanics of it when it takes you a few minutes to say "Oh, that's
how they did 'that'!" to yourself vs. being one of the team that put six
months of 9-10 hour days into figuring how to get the code to do "that."
- V
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