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Comment by xrd

Popular opinion almost makes it seem like "writing well" (for human consumption) is almost the opposite of "writing good code" (for computers).

To be regarded as a great programmer, you need to know all the arcane details of a system, where those are the intricacies of a particular language or framework, or the small details of how a computer system works. It's the minutiae that counts.

With writing for humans, you need to have a very high level overview of things. You need to speak broadly and appeal to a common human understanding. The top level understanding is what matters.

Coding interviews reflect the change the industry is sensing and what this author puts well: the worst coding interviews are where they ask you about some small detail of a language or algorithm. It's a gotcha test. The better interviews ask you to show how you holistically approach a problem.

parent xrd 7 years ago

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