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Talk to Each Other
Ben Gohlke edited this page Sep 8, 2015
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- Writing functioning code requires precision.
- If your code has a typo, it won't work.
- It's easier to see someone else's typos than your own, because you have a tendency to assume what you typed was right or you wouldn't have typed it.
- Fixing another person's typo makes you feel useful. Having your own typo fixed - whether you fix it yourself or someone else finds it - can make you feel a bit dopey.
- Therefore it's a good idea to ask someone else to read over your code if you suspect it might be broken because of a typo. It's easier for the other person to find it, and it'll make the other person feel useful.
- Different parts of the brain are involved in hearing about, reading about, and solely thinking about a problem.
- Therefore hearing about a coding problem can activate different parts of your brain than reading or thinking about it.
- Therefore talking about a coding problem can help you solve some problems that you can't solve by reading or thinking about them.
- Talking to yourself, or a non-technical spouse, or pet, or rubber duck, is a time-honored problem solving strategy.
- Talking to another developer can work the same way.
- Therefore it's a good idea to talk to someone else about problems you're having in your code. Hearing yourself describe the problem can lead to a solution even if the other person offers no input.
- Writing functioning code requires precision.
- Thinking about a problem does not require precision.
- Putting your thoughts about a problem into words requires more precision than just thinking, but less than coding.
- Therefore talking about a coding problem with another person can help lead you towards a solution by forcing you to be precise enough about your thoughts to put them into words. If your words are unclear to the other person, it's a sign that your thoughts might not be clear enough to be turned into code.
- Writing functioning code requires you to know things.
- Other people know things.
- Therefore talking about a coding problem with another person can give the person the opportunity to teach you something you can use to solve your problem.