cdshaw@watmum.UUCP (Chris Shaw) (07/26/85)
>General question: does anybody "write code" on paper first any more? >-- >Ed Nather For me, there is a choice: write it twice (on paper then on screen), or write it once (on screen only). However, it isn't as hard-and-fast as that. This only truly works for simple stuff. For hard programs, I use paper for "getting the algorithm into my head". Recently, for example, I had to do a complicated data structure conversion. The result was terrifically simple, but the core of the thing was a... x[ --b[ x[ --b[i] ] ] ] = i ; ..kind of affair, which required a lot of thought, and had to be designed with pictures of linked data structures, etc. etc. The point of all this is that the tools called "paper & pencil" are inadequate for designing programs at the textual level, because line insertion is improbable, and looks like hell if you do more than a little. Drawing pictures with pencil is easy, though, and impossible on your normal terminal. If I had access to a good graphics package, one with real flexibility & "definable actions", then I'd drop paper altogether for design. The conclusion is that this is really an ergonomics issue (if I take the meaning correctly). Tools that are completely satisfactory/comfortable will displace those that aren't. Chris Shaw watmath!watmum!cdshaw or cdshaw@watmath University of Waterloo Work is the curse of the drinking classes. - Oscar Wilde