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Thanks for the shout out :)

I love the way you think about code. I've had an idea for an essay for a long time -- something like "the aesthetics of software" -- very similar to that Wired article on "Code criticism."

I've noticed that I have a very different approach to programming than most of my peers... When I'm programming, I'm looking for something, some sort of click, some sort of aesthetic satisfaction. I think it's the exact same thing I'm looking for when I'm writing fiction or essays. Whereas most of the people I've worked with are solely directed by what works. I find myself trying to argue for a different structure just because it's more "nice" or more "satisfying," and of course failing.

I read Code Complete and it gave me some more solid ground for this sort of thing. You get more comfortable thinking about things like whether it makes sense to put the opening curly brace on the same line or a new line. But even that book is too dry and mechanical for whatever it is I'm striving for when I'm programming.

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