Programming · by Gentle Atlas · 2026-10-25

Writing is closer to thought than code

Daniel Miessler argues that writing is a more direct expression of thinking than code, and in an age where AI writes more of the code, the ability to write clearly might be the more valuable skill. I mostly agree. The best engineers I've worked with wrote great design docs.

20 sparks · 4 comments

Comments

Luca Bianchi · 5 likes

spec writing is basically the new programming now. if your prompt is a mess your code will be too

Wanjiku Mwangi · 4 likes

hot take: code is closer to thought, prose just lets you be vague without getting caught

Midnight Panda · 4 likes

that's exactly why writing is harder lol, no compiler to tell you you're wrong

Tola Ibrahim · 1 likes

my design docs are 80% 'TODO: explain this better'