Ryan Tomayko

3 shell scripts: Kill weasel words, avoid the passive, eliminate duplicates —

I can’t think of anything I like better than the intersection of writing and shell hacking.

Writing good documentation —

Jacob Kaplan-Moss:

It’s really tempting to use an auto-documentation tool like Javadoc or RDoc for reference material.

Don’t.

Auto-generated documentation is almost worthless. At best it’s a slightly improved version of simply browsing through the source, but most of the time it’s easier just to read the source than to navigate the bullshit that these autodoc tools produce. About the only thing auto-generated documentation is good for is filling printed pages when contracts dictate delivery of a certain number of pages of documentation. I feel a particularly deep form of rage every time I click on a “documentation” link and see auto-generated documentation.

Hate that shit.

You know what I want? Man pages. For everything. Wouldn’t it be cool if you didn’t have to write roff?

On Saying No —

Surprisingly interesting Esquire essay by Tom Chiarella:

Yes suggests pleasure. It wants something. Salesmen train themselves to use yes at the beginning of a sentence, no matter what, which is why when you say it enough, the word yes starts to feel like a con.

But no is cold and heavy. It puts an end to things. In that way, it is a word of control. Its very use suggests a speaker who actually knows something, who won’t bend, who won’t give in to what you want simply because you want it. No says the case has not been made.

Cops use it. Operators use it. Good teachers, too. I’d always wanted to be a guy who simply said no. So that’s what I did for a month. Whenever I didn’t want to do something, I didn’t hesitate, didn’t explain. I just said no.

“No.” Is there a more elegant sentence in the English language?

20 tips for writing for the web —

And every one is worth reading yet another “20 tips” post.

Why specs matter —

I’ve linked to this before and I’ll link to it again.

How to Write With Style —

Kurt Vonnegut: “The most damning revelation you can make about yourself is that you do not know what is interesting and what is not.”

Online Literacy Is a Lesser Kind —

“When the Texas Education Agency evaluated its Technology Immersion Pilot, a $14-million program to install wireless tools in middle schools, the conclusion was unequivocal: ‘There were no statistically significant effects of immersion in the first year on either reading or mathematics achievement.’”

blog.txt —

A minimalist’s WordPress theme. Focus on typography and simple markup. Various configuration options and a print stylesheet.

The Letter in the Pond —

Letter found hidden beneath a backyard pond to the person who would eventually remove the pond. One of the best pieces of writing I’ve seen all year.

Lynch, Guide to Grammar and Style —

Nice little style guide on the web and nicely indexed hyperlinked.

Trapped in sobriety [dive into mark] —

I beg to differ Stephen. Mark is clearly on his own planet, too!

E.W. Dijkstra Archive: On the cruelty of really teaching computing science —

Dijkstra’s writing style is so perfect.

How to Write Articles and Essays Quickly and Expertly —

Surprisingly insightful.