Re: running an external app

FROM : Andy Lee
DATE : Tue May 27 22:48:23 2008

On May 27, 2008, at 4:15 PM, Peter Duniho wrote:
>> Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 14:57:09 -0400
>> From: Andy Lee <<email_removed>>
>>
>> Also, when we *do* ask to see people's code (which also happens), 
>> it's
>> not because the code is the best way to express their intentions.
>> It's because their code is not *fulfilling* their intentions.  Not at
>> all the same as code snippets in documentation.

>
> Au contraire!
>
> You are making the incorrect assumption that the documentation does 
> a 100% correct job of conveying intentions to every person who may 
> read it.


I have no idea where you get this.

> When trying to help someone or explain a concept to them -- 
> especially when they already have some very specific intention in 
> mind that's just not being supported by the language or framework in 
> which they are working -- I have reasonably often asked them to not 
> necessarily write correct code, but to write code that would be 
> correct if they could do exactly what they're asking about.  Even if 
> the language doesn't support that specific syntax, having the 
> intention expressed in code is often still more communicative than 
> trying to describe it in English.


I think this is a fair and good point, and come to think of it when 
you see some poor person's misguided code, you can sometimes tell them 
Aha, what you really "meant" to do was such-and-such.

A fair and good point, but please don't make up wild assumptions that 
I didn't state, or that I stated the opposite of.

With that, I'd better back out of this thread, which is going in 
circles anyway, or I'll never get anything done.

--Andy