What would you tell your friend/relative if they asked you to explain some of your coding (programs)
assuming that your friend/relative has no prior experience with coding..
What would you tell them? would you even bother explaining your code?
What would you tell them? would you even bother explaining your code?
Just explain it as a higher level system. Just tell them about each module and what it is responsible for, how they interact, etc. You should understand your own code enough to abstract it up to a point where it can be explained simply.
"MAJIK"
Have a doctorate in a field you know nothing about try to explain their dissertation to you, and you'll know what your relatives (who are not as computer literate as you, most likely) feel like.
I've found that if I can't explain it in less than 5 simple words, it's probably not even worth bringing up.
Have a doctorate in a field you know nothing about try to explain their dissertation to you, and you'll know what your relatives (who are not as computer literate as you, most likely) feel like.
I've found that if I can't explain it in less than 5 simple words, it's probably not even worth bringing up.
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As Albert Einstein said "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough".
I agree with @Lachlan Easton we need to be able to come up with good analogies to explain it. I would also consider telling them basically what it does without involving large complicated words and trying to avoid the complexity of the situation and giving them the output without confusing them with the processes done to get the output.
I agree with @Lachlan Easton we need to be able to come up with good analogies to explain it. I would also consider telling them basically what it does without involving large complicated words and trying to avoid the complexity of the situation and giving them the output without confusing them with the processes done to get the output.
@OrionMaster
I personally don't completely agree with what Albert Einstein said. With that logic, that would mean that someone who understand calculus 4 should be able to explain every complicated concept to someone who has no experience in mathematics. I know plenty of classmates that have a very difficult time understanding these concepts from my calculus class.... does that mean that the teacher is useless since she/he can't explain this simple enough?
I also agree with Lachlan Easton
I personally don't completely agree with what Albert Einstein said. With that logic, that would mean that someone who understand calculus 4 should be able to explain every complicated concept to someone who has no experience in mathematics. I know plenty of classmates that have a very difficult time understanding these concepts from my calculus class.... does that mean that the teacher is useless since she/he can't explain this simple enough?
I also agree with Lachlan Easton
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| SomeAmazingGuy wrote: |
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| does that mean that the teacher is useless since she/he can't explain this simple enough? |
No, because you assume 'not understand it well enough' automatically means 'useless.' It does not.
I think Einstein means simple relatively. Certainly even Relativity has no generally simple explanation.
I've been in this situation many a time. I explain in as simple of terms as it gets and it usually results in one of two ways:
1 - Generally my families response: "You need to do something more productive with your time." which is an actual quote from my aunt.
2 - Everyone else's response: "Cool. I have X software I'm having issues with at home. Can you help me with that?" to which I reply, "No" or a more extended, "Just because I can program doesn't mean I'm magically familiar with all software."
I've had one person in my entire family who has responded with, "That's really cool. I wish you would show me more sometime."... who just so happened to be into database management and website development professionally.
So, my conclusion has pretty much been: Don't ever try to explain it to a pleb. If they have some technical background, they might relate to you more. Else, they'll either mock you or put you into an awkward situation.
My current approach when I'm asked what I'm doing or if they're looking at what I'm doing is to ignore them completely. If I answer with, "You wouldn't understand it", they become immediately offended by the condescending tone. If I answer with, "It's hard to explain", the result is about the same.
That said, everyone's family is different. Mine is hardcore baptist right-wingers who really don't care for things like, "being understanding".
1 - Generally my families response: "You need to do something more productive with your time." which is an actual quote from my aunt.
2 - Everyone else's response: "Cool. I have X software I'm having issues with at home. Can you help me with that?" to which I reply, "No" or a more extended, "Just because I can program doesn't mean I'm magically familiar with all software."
I've had one person in my entire family who has responded with, "That's really cool. I wish you would show me more sometime."... who just so happened to be into database management and website development professionally.
So, my conclusion has pretty much been: Don't ever try to explain it to a pleb. If they have some technical background, they might relate to you more. Else, they'll either mock you or put you into an awkward situation.
My current approach when I'm asked what I'm doing or if they're looking at what I'm doing is to ignore them completely. If I answer with, "You wouldn't understand it", they become immediately offended by the condescending tone. If I answer with, "It's hard to explain", the result is about the same.
That said, everyone's family is different. Mine is hardcore baptist right-wingers who really don't care for things like, "being understanding".
| What would you tell them? would you even bother explaining your code? |
Most of my friends do not even have computers. If I even start to try to describe something, I an quickly shut down.
Lately I've got more of a knack for structuring large programs into independent little blocks that would work all by themselves in a different environment. This alone can abstract a lot of the functionality and I can just say something like "this section of code handles all the serial communication to/from the computer to a device", "this section is a pretend HW device that stores the information you get from the device you've got plugged in, and it talks to the device by giving commands to the serial communication bit I just mentioned"...
Personally I think it's quite a good practice creating encapsulated blocks of code that are mostly generic, and having the main application simply define how to use what blocks in which order and not do much itself in terms of functionality... this may just be because of how useful it is in my current field though, I'll let you judge if it works for you
Personally I think it's quite a good practice creating encapsulated blocks of code that are mostly generic, and having the main application simply define how to use what blocks in which order and not do much itself in terms of functionality... this may just be because of how useful it is in my current field though, I'll let you judge if it works for you
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