Death to Writing: Why Should You Write if You Can Code?

You've heard it before -- the age old story that technology is the death to tradition, that computers stop kids from writing, that video games kill creativity. These ideas taint technology, but the truth is, writing and coding go hand in hand. You may think you don't need to know how to write and how to use language if you're in computer science, but that's just wrong. Let me tell you why.

I'm an English specialist, with a taste for coding. I've spent most of my undergraduate career defending my choice of study. The ability to write and the ability to use language can help you in any career path you choose -- especially in computer science. 

Clients. Clients don't speak code, they speak English -- most of the time. You are much more likely to be hired if your cover letter and resume actually make sense. Language helps you appeal to clients, and appealing to clients means more work, which means more money and life happiness. You need to write proposals, specifications, funding requests -- language is the face of all careers, including computer science.

Fellow programmers need to read your code too. You have to have comments that make sense without being too lengthy. The faster someone can read and understand your code, the more productive the whole project is. The less time you spend explaining your motives, the easier it is to work with other people and finish your project on time. 

The language of computer programming. Yeah, yeah, I know -- computer science is all about the math! Sure, understanding mathematical concepts is crucial in understanding computer science, but you don't have to be mathematically minded to be good at coding. If you can look at a problem and think about the language of it, it becomes easy to put into code. Think of it as one big word problem, and you've got yourself a fun project to get started on. I find that it's easy to get caught up in the math minutiae when you're writing code, and sometimes it's hard to step back and see the big picture. Language helps a lot in this aspect.

Having a grasp of language is crucial in computer science, just as understanding mathematical concepts is. If you can write, you can translate your code to colloquial language. It makes it easier for you to understand what you're doing and what your fellow programmers are doing. Trust me -- you can't go wrong with having a grasp of language, in any field you choose to pursue.