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I read the article on Elegance before reading all the responses to Tim
Altom's original post. I thought the article was well written and thought
provoking. It reopened the discussion of what the essence of computer
programming is about, and this essence certainly applies to our work as
technical communicators.
So, I don't think the article is merely a rehash of old principles that we
all already know about. I've been in a technical writer for almost 10 years,
and still welcome refreshing reminders of and new insights into the highest
principles we can strive for in our work, whether we're programmers,
communicators, or dishwashers. And I find it quite refreshing to talk about
principles and aesthetics for a change rather than just tools and grammar
(which have their place on this list but don't stimulate much thought).
Nancy Burns
nburns -at- breault -dot- com
-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Altom <taltom -at- IQUEST -dot- NET>
To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU <TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU>
Date: Thursday, April 23, 1998 6:58 AM
>Did anybody else see the article in the current Computerworld about
>elegance? It's perhaps a strange topic in a computer publication, but it
was
>pointing out that programmers have respected elegance for decades, elegance
>being "simplicity that confers power". <snip>
