Comment by xanderlewis

Comment by xanderlewis a year ago

3 replies

The comparison with mathematics also makes sense here. It’s much easier to spot typos in other peoples’ work than your own for exactly that reason: when you read back what you wrote, you read back what you meant to write rather than what’s actually there.

Open any textbook (even a fourth edition of a famous one, written by an expert) and you’ll find countless typos. In fact, in a certain sense, the more expert you are the less suitable you are as a proof reader for such books.

lanstin a year ago

One of my undergrad tutors taught complex analysis with a book she had written, and she offered a reward for any one who found an error. She said the best students never claimed the reward, only the people that had to study each word carefully.

jpc0 a year ago

You touched on it but I've experienced the same reading code when I knew what was intended by the code, regardless of who wrote it. I miss obvious but simple bugs because I only read what it is mean to do.