Power of expression.

I am writing this piece while in library. It was an odd day after long restless days of assignments and tests. When I entered the systems room in the B-level, I already started feeling dizzy which resulted from continuous lack of proper food and sleep.

I opened my laptop, hey! I am back to this junk world of Gmails, Orkuts, Myspace and what not. I could see how dormant I was for the past six months, earlier dreaming about new graduate life later dreaming about the past life, has led me to pass no more than very few google hits.

Then I got a subscription mail from this JoelOnSoftware thing which lead me the rest of the hours peacefully and not less productively. The JoelOnSoftware.com is one heck of an archive of articles related to software engineering, business, coding, careers, anything and everything I would like to spend time on. Thanks mainly to Paramanand Singh, for introducing me to this one great site couple of years back.

How does a software click? Is it the efficient implementation? Or does it involve breakthrough ideas? Does it have a business appeal? Or more importantly does it convey clearly on what it wants to convey?

The answer is weighted mix of all the above with considerable weight given to the last point, that is making it easily understandable. (Like the one found in this specification by Linus Trovalds). The difference between a tolerable programmer and a great programmer is that the ability of the later to communicate his ideas better. Another example is Firefox, by Blake Ross & co., though a complex implementation it is growing at rapid rate. Besides much of the innovation like tab browsing and efficient footprint, it is the clarity of the specification given by Blake (as in article of ddj.com) that made the software click.

Clear write ups enable the software to be widely followed by the masses, as a result, more and more people view your ideas and you emerge as a winner. Quite simple!