Re: Programming vs. Technical Writing

["Walker, Arlen P" <Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- COM>]

     When the programmer writes code, he seems to look for ways to skip
     steps, or integrate several steps into one. His main concern
     is making his code short.

Well, they're actually the same thing. Follow:

Our job is to help our audience perform the tasks they need to do with an
absolute minimum of fuss and bother. We're so detail-oriented because
anything we don't document correctly will cost the audience time and
efficiency.

A programmer's job is to help the computer peform the required functions
with an absolute minimum of fuss and bother. If the code is bloated, it
will cost the user time and efficiency. (See any code from MS for example.)

As is always the case, it's simply a matter of correctly understanding the
needs of the audience and filling them.

Back in my programming days, it was a matter fo pride to bum a few
instruction cycles out of your code. Programmers today are sloppy by
comparison, because of all the extra power they've got laying around. When
I think of what used to fit in 64K of RAM, and what now requires nearly
64Meg, I shake my head in wonder.

Have fun,
Arlen
Chief Managing Director In Charge, Department of Redundancy Department
DNRC 224

Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- Com
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