You can safely assume that programmers are slightly insane. But I never realized how worse off other programmers are compared to me until I saw the site Developer Duck. For something called "Rubber Duck Debugging". Where you talk aloud to a rubber duck to justify every line of code you wrote.
It is not that insane once you realize that speaking aloud to explain something helps making obvious the presence (or lack) of a clear conceptual model for what you're trying to explain. What is more troubling is that, considering how much I depend on good conceptualization to design code, other programmers can get away with so much code that simply doesn't make sense.
Actually, it's like "small talk", or talking for hours on the phone without being much attentive to the conversation. There is meaning and feelings exchanged, but not much structure or cohesion. When I talk I end up structuring complex paragraphs, building up into sections and subsections, until the poor listener gets completely lost. While this doesn't lead to good conversational skills, it is exactly what makes for good software conceptualization, and thus good design.
Odd thing that taking to an inanimate object can be a sign of normalcy...
Published on August 9, 2012 at 21:42 EDT
Older post: Design Cheat Sheet
Newer post: TortoiseHG on a Mac