Talks
Speakers
Events
Topics
Sign in
Home
Talks
Speakers
Events
Topics
Leaderboard
Use
Analytics
Sign in
Suggest modification to this talk
Title
Description
By, Adam Cuppy Did you know that Shakespeare wrote almost no direction into his plays? No fight direction. No staging. No notes to the songs. Of the 1700 words he created, there was no official dictionary. That’s right the author of some of the greatest literary works in history, which were filled with situational complexity, fight sequences and music, include NO documentation! How did he do it? In this talk, we're going "thee and thou." I'm going to give you a crash course in how: Shakespeare writes software.
Date
Summarized using AI?
If this talk's summary was generated by AI, please check this box. A "Summarized using AI" badge will be displayed in the summary tab to indicate that the summary was generated using AI.
Show "Summarized using AI" badge on summary page
Summary
Markdown supported
In the talk titled "What If Shakespeare Wrote Ruby?" presented at RailsConf 2015, Adam Cuppy explores the parallels between Shakespeare's writing techniques and modern software development. He begins by discussing the lack of explicit documentation in Shakespeare's works, which raises the question of how such complexity could be conveyed without it. Cuppy introduces the concept of software writing as a form of art, similar to poetry. Key points include: - **Audience Engagement**: Cuppy emphasizes the importance of audience interaction, similar to the groundlings of Shakespearean theater, highlighting that engagement is essential to both live performance and software development. - **Language and Creativity**: He asserts that good software writing involves creativity and expresses that programming languages, like Ruby, can be seen as an expressive medium, akin to poetry. - **Domain-Specific Language (DSL)**: Cuppy articulates the significance of using expressive conventions in software development, encouraging developers to think of their code as a medium of storytelling. - **Iambic Pentameter**: He draws a parallel between the iambic pentameter used by Shakespeare and structured programming patterns. Cuppy explains how understanding these conventions can lead to more expressive and meaningful code. - **Collaboration**: The speaker discusses how Shakespeare’s collaborative environment parallels modern software development teams and how this teamwork leads to greater creativity and output. - **Creating Spectacles**: Cuppy concludes by urging developers to strive for excellence and to leave behind "spectacles"—memorable, impactful code that reflects artistry and creativity. He reinforces the idea that at its heart, software development is about creating poetry through code. The main takeaway from the presentation is that software developers should embrace their craft as a form of artistry, striving to create beautiful, engaging, and expressive code, much as Shakespeare did with his plays. Cuppy encourages the audience to view their work as collaborative and meaningful, reminiscent of the expectations and excitement found in Shakespeare's theater.
Suggest modifications
Cancel
