food for thought - swift 5 released - bottom types, string interpolation, and stuff.

[Nick Sabalausky (Abscissa)]

On 4/12/19 2:33 PM, Nicholas Wilson wrote:
> On Friday, 12 April 2019 at 11:03:21 UTC, Walter Bright wrote:
>>
>> Knowing what (x & 1) is is a superpower? What about (x + x) ?
> 
> Its not about not knowing, its that it takes more time to decipher. 
> People do waaaay more math than bit operations (which is why hash 
> functions are still black magic to me).

I'd argue it's not really even about the time it takes. It's about the 
cognitive load. (Though that does admittedly translate into additional 
time, among other things.)

...

Come to think of it, just a random stray thought here...I think it would 
benefit the programming world if the relationship between code, 
languages and cognitive load (and heck, just the psychology of code in 
general)), plus why cognitive load matters, were incorporated directly 
into programming instruction.

Really, if you think about it, real-world programming is *all about* 
managing the interplay between logic and psychology. I think we would do 
well to incorporate the psychological aspects in teachings just like we 
do the logic side. (Maybe then, things like dynamic languages and 
silver-bullet "everything-is-a-..." languages (and...PHP...) would gain 
less traction in the first place.)