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by geon 114 days ago
We already have a very succinct and precise way to communicate intent. It's called source code.

Write your code so that the intent is crystal clear. If it is not, you have failed.

The primary purpose of code is NOT for a computer to execute it, but for humans to communicate intent.

1 comments

It's surely supposed to be the perfect bridge between both - but we know in practice it often isn't.

I'd also quibble minorly with intent being what the code should be clearly communicating - it's its place and function and meaning within the wider system, which isn't necessarily what the particular programmer wished. Free-form English is a good medium for intent - not so much for "what this thing actually does"