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January 24, 2005
Writing Software As Digital Rhetoric
The art of persuading computers to do what you want them to. That's one of my internal definitions of what writing software means.
When people ask what I do, my past response has been that I am a programmer for a law firm. This is not comprehended well, so I've been toying with different ways to describe what I do. A tougher-than-it-looks task. I have settled on the claim that “I write software that is used by a law firm.” This answer reels in more comprehending faces and lighter eyes. What is different between a "programmer" and "writing software"? Well, the latter describes an action while the former is a noun.
Further, there's the idea that what I do is somewhat orthogonal to what a writer of novels, or short stories, or essays does. I plot, I outline, I adopt the most persuasive line of argument. I practice rhetoric on the computer. Seems like a good heuristic to hang my hat on for most people.
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Posted by Noel at 05:18 PM
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