Re: Proposal: smartlua

[marbux <marbux@...>]

On Wed, Mar 6, 2013 at 1:34 PM, Dirk Laurie <dirk.laurie@gmail.com> wrote:

> It may well be a sign of advancing age, but in the last five to ten
> years I have developed the habit of writing documentation and
> code in parallel: sometimes the code runs ahead (as invariably
> it did when I was younger), sometimes the documentation runs
> ahead. When one's short-term memory starts misfiring, it is useful
> to have a record of an earlier, more lucid moment. :-)
>

Agreed. I find myself commenting code much more liberally these days.

History also records an instance where the documentation was written
before any code was written:

"Following the Wang 1200, Harold Koplow and David Moros made another
attempt at designing a word processor. They started by first writing
the user's manual for the product. A 2002 Boston Globe article refers
to Koplow as a "wisecracking rebel" who "was waiting for dismissal
when, in 1975, he developed the product that made computers popularly
accessible."

"In Koplow's words, "Dr. Wang kicked me out of marketing. I, along
with Dave Moros was relegated to Long Range Planning — 'LRPed'. This
... was tantamount to being fired: 'here is a temporary job until you
find another one in some other company.'"

"Although he and Moros were told to design a word processing machine,
they were given no resources.[citation needed] They perceived the
assignment as busywork. They went ahead anyway, wrote the manual, and
convinced Dr. Wang to turn it into a real project. The word processing
machine — the Wang 1200 WPS — was introduced in June 1976 and was an
instant success, as was its successor, the 1977 Wang OIS (Office
Information System)."

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Laboratories#Wang_OIS>.

Best regards,

Paul