“In order to think, you have to write. If you don’t, you only think you’re thinking.”
– Leslie Lamport
Why should I bother writing when I could be doing? Hammering out a prototype. Writing code. Building something. Why wait? Well, I’ve noticed that my best and most useful ideas come from a systematic and thoughtful deconstruction of a problem. And the thread of that process is written down.
Not only does writing clarify my thought process, but it also makes the end product more understandable. In code, more understandable equates to fewer bugs and easier maintenance.
“Every time you patch a piece of code, it becomes uglier and harder to understand. It’s entropy. If you start coding without thinking, every line of code you write is a patch, and your program starts out ugly and hard to understand.”
I really like Leslie Lamport’s assertion that true thinking requires writing. And writing requires practice. So I’ve resolved to practice writing more regularly, of which this is the first instance.