Comments on: Spolsky: how programmers redefine their way around hard problems http://www.wordyard.com/2008/02/20/spolsky-quotes/ Technology, politics, culture Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:45:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: pbossut http://www.wordyard.com/2008/02/20/spolsky-quotes/#comment-2103 pbossut Thu, 21 Feb 2008 23:55:37 +0000 http://www.wordyard.com/2008/02/20/spolsky-quotes/#comment-2103 Hmm... Apparently, Joel's never heard of George Polya <a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Solve-Mathematical-Princeton-Science/dp/069111966X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203637919&sr=8-1" rel="nofollow">How to Solve it</a> classic. Finding a problem easier to find is precisely a way to open up one's mind to explore ideas and find approaches to a harder problem. Recommended reading really... Also, on writing, I agree with Joel that writing is a skill that would be worth teaching to developers though I think that Joel's style (flamboyant, opiniated, egocentric and light on facts) is precisely what I don't want to see in technical writing. I happened to have written my own set of <a href="http://chandlerproject.org/pub/Journal/PhilippeBossutNotes/GeorgesSieve.htm" rel="nofollow">technical writing advices</a> as I learned them in college thanks to an outstanding professor. Hmm… Apparently, Joel’s never heard of George Polya How to Solve it classic. Finding a problem easier to find is precisely a way to open up one’s mind to explore ideas and find approaches to a harder problem. Recommended reading really…

Also, on writing, I agree with Joel that writing is a skill that would be worth teaching to developers though I think that Joel’s style (flamboyant, opiniated, egocentric and light on facts) is precisely what I don’t want to see in technical writing. I happened to have written my own set of technical writing advices as I learned them in college thanks to an outstanding professor.

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