Thinking with Style
This article describes how ideas long used in the art of printing, word processing, and desktop publishing enhance computer programming: writing software books, compiling software books into programs, and archiving software books. Styles guide book compilation. Style templates dictate the book’s consistent look-and-feel. Revision tracking, commentary, and embedded objects such as images, diagrams, and video enrich the software book’s expressive power. We must balance learning to discover and create with learning to communicate and educate. It is time to dispose of your archaic text editors and start to author software novels.
Sunday, October 31, 2004
