Proof of Thought

Concept

"Proof of Thought" is a concept in programming loosely based on the idea of proof of work. When examining code of a program, it can be difficult to gauge exactly how much thought went into writing each line. A proof of thought is something that the programmer can do to show how much (or how little) human thought went into the lines of code.

Literate Programming as Proof of Thought

The prose found in a literate program can be used as proof of thought. Reading the words in a literate program, one can roughly gauge the amount of effort the programmer put into the program. More thoughtful parts will have a cohesive narrative with good flow. Bits with lots of words describing only a few lines of code are typically a indicator of particularly complex, confusing, or counter-intuitive code. Less thoughtful parts will be riddled with typos and in dire need of an editor.

The author admits his programs own programs are more often than not in dire need of an editor.

Related Pages and Keywords

keywords: thoughtful programming, literate programming, thoughtful, programming

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