[ashtonkem]

It is quite explicit in the article that "brevity" is measured in literal characters. From a PG quote in the article:

> It would not be far from the truth to say that a hacker about to write a program decides what language to use, at least subconsciously, based on the total number of characters he’ll have to type.

[jelliclesfarm]

i know what brevity means. i choose to call it 'elegant' for the purposes of comparing it to his essays as the article mentions. his essays can sometimes be more rambling before it gets to the point. albeit precise. imo.

[ashtonkem]

More precise, according to whom? If PG is explicitly defining brevity as fewer characters, then redefining it to “elegance” is to simply ignore what PG said and replace it with something else. Perhaps that indeed is a better working definition, but if we’re commenting on PG’s articles then we need to look at what he actually said and not what you wish he’d said.

If you want to write your own articles and explicitly replace brevity with elegance, don’t let me stop you.

[jelliclesfarm]

wtf? (the rest of my response in it's brevity.)

thanks. have a great day.