Re: OT: The Geek defense

On Fri, 29 Feb 2008 08:07:22 -0600, Robert wrote:

The general explanation is good programmers solve logic problems
non-verbally. When I think about an abstract programming issue, lets say
a parser, I see an IMAGE of words broken apart. When I explain it to
someone, I use my hands a lot, as though gesturing at a whiteboard. I'm
pointing at the images I see and expressing the parsing process in words
for the first time. That explains the correlation between programming
and music; both are non-verbal forms of expressing abstractions.

Excellent. This explains how the two pieces of research can be reconciled.
Programmers are constructing a visual model in their heads and using that
to think about the computer and the program.

I remember spending a day with a highly paid lawyer working on a legal
dispute. I was there to advise him on the technical side of things. It was
difficult to communicate with him because he thought in a completely
verbal way. He turned everything into a little paragraph that he
memorized.

A couple of times I suggested I could clarify things by drawing him a
picture. Bad idea! I may as well have suggested explaining it in Swahili.

Tim
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: OT: The Geek defense
    ... When I think about an abstract programming issue, ... that's what lawyers are paid to do. ... The law embodies the story of a nation's development through many centuries, ...
    (comp.lang.cobol)
  • Re: OT: The Geek defense
    ... When I think about an abstract programming issue, ... for the first time. ... Programmers are constructing a visual model in their heads and using that ...
    (comp.lang.cobol)
  • Re: an old geezer running visual studio for the first time
    ... closing rapidly the connetion again) and only change data by way of SQL ... > oriented design and programming. ... >> But when I ran VS.NET for the first time, I simply didn't know where to ... My reusable code (subs and functions) is ...
    (microsoft.public.dotnet.framework.aspnet)
  • Re: Programming XCF from MicroBlaze over JTAG???
    ... We are programming Xilinx ... well at least when doing it first time. ... when xilinx had not even published the XCFxxP BSDL files yet. ...
    (comp.arch.fpga)
  • Re: Should I use "if" or "try" (as a matter of speed)?
    ... Shouldn't one avoid doing it the wrong way from the very beginning? ... make it "just work" the first time, you'll probably use the old code later on ... Extreme Programming ... that the refactor "make it right" stage must occur _now_, ...
    (comp.lang.python)