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Good writing gives us
Good writing requires good code (the writing) and a good protocol (e.g. books not Twitter).
The computer analogy is always slightly problematic, but I think it's sometimes useful.
Writing is a tool as well as an art. It has practical utility, and can reach the Sublime.
I think software shares these properties, even if it's usually more tool than art.
I'm attracted to Geminispace because I want to write more. I used to write more, and I
used to be more in touch with the Sublime. I was a philosophy major with no plans, and I
wanted to make more money and not do a fake capitalist salesperson song and dance, so
I took some classes and became a programmer.
It's been great. The work is stimulating and the pay is good. But a decade after I wrote
my first line of CSS in notepad.exe, I am realizing that I am not practicing 100% of my
craft. In the pantheon of programming greats, there are a lot of great writers. Those
are the ones I admire, at least. Kernigan and Ritchie, Stevens, Liskov, Ousterhout.
They're all authors of widely-read books or academic papers, and these writings are
perhaps their greatest contributions.
As a humble blogger and scribbler, I want to remain a lifelong student of these masters.
It's therapy and meditation, and it needs to remain part of my practice.