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Ask Slashdot: How Do You Read Code?
New submitter Gornkleschnitzer writes: The majority of humans read silently by rendering a simulation of the printed words as if they were being spoken. By reading that sentence, chances are you're now stuck being conscious of this, too. You're welcome.
As a programmer (and a reader of fanfiction), plenty of things I read are not valid English syntax. When I find myself reviewing class definitions, for loops, and #define macros, I rely on some interesting if inconsistent mental pronunciation rules. For instance, int i = 0; comes out as "int i equals zero," but if(i == 0) sometimes comes out as either "if i is zero" or "if i equals equals zero." The loop for(size_t i = 0; i < itemList.size(); ++i) generally translates to "for size T i equals zero, i less than item list dot size, plus-plus i." I seem to drop C++ insertion/extraction operators entirely in favor of a brief comma-like pause, with cout << str << endl; sounding like "kowt, stur, endel."
What are your code-reading quirks?
As a programmer (and a reader of fanfiction), plenty of things I read are not valid English syntax. When I find myself reviewing class definitions, for loops, and #define macros, I rely on some interesting if inconsistent mental pronunciation rules. For instance, int i = 0; comes out as "int i equals zero," but if(i == 0) sometimes comes out as either "if i is zero" or "if i equals equals zero." The loop for(size_t i = 0; i < itemList.size(); ++i) generally translates to "for size T i equals zero, i less than item list dot size, plus-plus i." I seem to drop C++ insertion/extraction operators entirely in favor of a brief comma-like pause, with cout << str << endl; sounding like "kowt, stur, endel."
What are your code-reading quirks?
I just program in write only languages like Perl so I never have to worry about this problem.
I execute it in a mental virtual machine.
A literal 1 in Ada code? That can't be right. I think you mean:
for Untzelgerflekenzet in Positive'First .. Ausplotzenfargang loop
Geinengemacht (Zealer => Untzelgerflekenzet, Zugemacht => Sptizelgang);
end loop;
Before I hire a plumber, I ask him how he pronounces all the pipes he will be working on. If he says "shit tube" for the kitchen sink supply I do not hire him
Do the submitter's lips move when he reads code?
I actually said "What the fuck were they thinking? This is the most obtuse shit I've seen in a long time, it's almost what I'd do if I hated the maintenance coder."
Co-worker over the cube wall asks what module, I respond.
Co-worker over the cube wall snickers and says "blame".
me-does blame
"Oh fuck I hate myself, and apparently I knew that 6 months ago".
whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
I try to give each function a different characteristic voice. I use a high pitched voice for smaller functions.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire