On Writing (Code)

Introspection into my own process for making software has led me to believe that writing prose and programming are fundamentally the same. This was further highlighted for me when I read Stephen King's On Writing. I saw interesting parallels between the way he likes to work and the way I like to work. Also my code is a horror story.

King likes to write a first draft as quickly as possible. He does this to get the story out. He doesn't worry about character development or even holes in the plot. Those he will fix up in the second draft. The first draft is about getting onto paper the good bones of a story. Then he lets the first draft sit for a couple of weeks.

When he can come back to the first drift and it looks familiar but not quite—like it was written by his doppelganger—then he has enough distance to make the second draft. That's where any story issues are fixed and things are smoothed out and tightened up. His goal is to make the story 10% shorter.

When I write code:

• I like to write code breadth-first so I can see all the moving parts and that everything fits together.
• I like to let it sit for a couple of minutes, or hours, or days—whatever I can afford.
• I like to smooth things out and tighten things up in the second draft—things like function names, refactoring, etc.

Maybe writing code isn't exactly like writing prose. Maybe it's more like knitting or woodworking or cycling or solving crimes. I think part of the reason that programmers tend to see their work in everything, is that programming is really just process for solving problems and giving form to thoughts. Those skills can be applied to many different domains. Maybe in that way it actually is more like writing than other hobbies?

At least I didn't say that programming is like gardening. I actually appreciate gardening as a hobby because of the fact that it is entirely different than making software!