What We Think About When We Think About Code Alex Kudlick
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- Technology
I interview software engineers to talk about how they think about code - what forms it takes in their minds, what mental techniques they use to manage the complexity, etc.
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Episode 3 - Nam
In this episode, I interview Nam about how he thinks about code. Nam primarily uses a verbal understanding, hearing the words in his mind.
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Episode 6 - Jen
In this episode, I interview Jen about how she thinks about code. Jen primarily uses procedural thinking to get an understanding of what code does. She also thinks a lot more about the social context of the code than any of the other interviewees - she thinks about the other people on the team, and how they will react to new code.
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Episode 5 - Kay
In this episode I interview Kay about how she thinks about code. Kay works with code as a scientist, and uses story-based metaphors to conceptualize different transformations.
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Episode 4 - Brett
In this episode, I interview Brett about how he thinks about code. Brett has a hard time expressing what's going on in his mind, the representations are very abstract. Brett reaffirms the theme from Rafael that anthropomorphization is useful when you don't understand the code.
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Episode 2 - Phil
In this episode I interview Phil about how he thinks about code. Phil primarily uses a flat, visual representation of the code's structure.
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Episode 1 - Rafael
In this episode I interview Rafael about how he thinks about code. Rafael turns out to be a spatial and visual thinking, imagining code interacting as shapes fitting together. He also thinks about code as a person when he doesn't understand it.