This question arose after I noticed that a lot of the questions and answers here (and in other forums) have spelling and grammatical mistakes. I personally am very finicky about these things. Are all programmers like that? I feel it's directly tied in to the attention to detail that programmers have, and also a desire to get things right.
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Being a programmer means you have to be very concerned about details, because small things such as forgetting to write "=<" instead of "<" could produce very different effects. So I believe programmers are very picky about details in general; noticing spelling errors is just a side-effect. Also, spelling errors can also lead to problems with requirements being unclear or ambiguous. |
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I'm known in our office as the nit-picky guy who always points out spelling errors in other people's PowerPoint presentations. So one meeting I just stuffed it and let one go. At the end of the slide, someone else piped up, "Hey Tom, didn't you notice such and such was misspelled?" So now I'm back to being the spelling cop again. (You'll also notice a lot of my posts are edited, like this one -- usually for grammatical errors I discover after the fact.) |
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No. I'm sure you've encountered developers who cannot spell, and don't care that their code and documentation is full of spelling and grammatical errors. Actually, I think peoples' ability spell and write grammatical English is more strongly correlated with:
And the second point means that there is a correlation with age ... since educators generally tend to place less emphasis on spelling and grammar these days. FOLLOWUP
Again no. There are lots of excellent programmers whose first language is not English, and who (understandably) have problems with English spelling and grammar. You knew that, didn't you. However, excellent programmers are undoubtedly good at picking holes in other people's logic :-) |
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Very much so in my case. Some people call me "the grammar Nazi". I often find myself arguing with my boss not only about design and code, but also about grammar and spelling, as well as proper terminology - i.e. it's not because an expression means "this" that it is appropriate to use it "here." Our applications have to be available in both English and French, so that doubles the fun. :) English is my second language though, and I'm still learning. And it's not like French is that easy either. Some people take it the wrong way when we correct them, but personally I see it as a learning opportunity. In fact I'll take it the wrong way if someone notices an error I made - especially if I do it often - and doesn't tell me. :) I find it's important not only in the delivered applications (if anything, that's professionalism), but also in code comments. We've had several people work on our project, and sometimes I run into comments so plagued with spelling and grammar mistakes that I'm not even sure what the hell they're saying... |
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When communicating, be it in code or email/documentation, etc, I strive to write clear, easy to understand text. For example, I use a spell checker extension for VS 2010 which catches misspellings in strings and code comments. Communication in software development is, for me, a very crucial aspect of success. Cheers. Jas. |
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It's not specific to programming world. It's everywhere. The problem is that the common language on the internet is But that's the native language of a part of the people involved in communities. Too and many native english speakers forget that. My native language is not english, and I do my best to write it correctly. I think it's what most of us do. I always appreciate when someone edit my post as it helps me to learn. That's the most constructive approach. |
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I find it interesting that the question, and all the answers so far, have grammatical errors. Clearly this means I am a pedant for spotting them. I don't know many other programmers who are fanatical about correct grammar though. p.s. I eagerly await a comment that highlights a grammatical error in this answer. |
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I think so. It's probably mostly because when coding a single spelling mistake can degrade code ever-so-quickly. |
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IME , no - I've met an awful lot of programmers that don't read very much, and consequently have awful spelling. It's not strictly a code smell - but something's rotten in Denmark when you're having to preserve references to misspelt object attributes/functions because the damn thing is buried too deep to refactor in the window provided. I'm truly surprised at the low literacy rates and general interest in reading/writing literature, that I've experienced in my short development career. |
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One of our developers here sent us all an email recommending spell checker for VS2010. The first thing that entered my mind was: "What, am I the only one that instinctively knows how to spell???" Now, I don't mind if people make mistakes in their spelling, as long as it's readable I'm happy. But what I cannot tolerate is when you have a presentation or official documentation and it's riddled with grammar and spelling mistakes. What do you think our client will think of the business if everything is spelt the way u want it coz thts how i read it??? English is my 2nd language and everyone understands that I can make a mistake when I pronounce someting incorrectly or my grammar isn't entirely correct. But it is expected for all of us to write our code, emails, documents and everything else grammatically correct without spelling mistakes |
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I, myself, is very nit-picky about grammar and spelling (when it comes to Danish atleast), but I do know several programmers that are not. So while it can be true for some, I don't think it is the norm. It is kinda like music and programming: There is a lot of programmers doing some sorts of music, but there is also programmers that don't. |
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One of the first lessons I got as a student of computer engineering was to keep my communications curt. The reason given for this was, I will have a smaller area in which to look for mistakes. Programmers are not different from others. They do make mistakes in spelling and other parts of their communication. When the communication is with humans, they have the safety net of near infinite capacity of the human mind in correcting the errors and pick up the intended message. When the communication is with computers, the safety net comes in the form of compilers, interpreters, spelling checkers, etc. The communications that slip the watchful eyes of these tools manifest themselves in the form of real life machines behaving weirdly and making it to headlines in the press and media. ATMs malfunctioning, among many is popular in making such headlines. |
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