We have come through a strange cycle in programming, starting with the creation of programming itself as a human activity. Executives with the tiniest smattering of knowledge assume that anyone can write a program, and only now are programmers beginning to win their battle for recognition as true professionals. Not just anyone, with any background, or any training, can do a fine job of programming. Programmers know this, but then why is it that they think that anyone picked off the street can do documentation? One has only to spend an hour looking at papers written by graduate students to realize the extent to which the ability to communicate is not universally held. And so, when we speak about computer program documentation, we are not speaking about the psychology of computer programming at all - except insofar as programmers have the illusion that anyone can do a good job of documentation, provided he is not smart enough to be a programmer.
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Whatever we learn has a purpose and whatever we do affects everything and everyone else, if even in the tiniest way. Why, when a housefly flaps his wings, a breeze goes round the world; when a speck of dust falls to the ground, the entire planet weighs a little more; and when you stamp your foot, the earth moves slightly off its course. Whenever you laugh, gladness spreads like the ripples in a pond; and whenever you're sad, no one anywhere can be really happy. And it's much the same thing with knowledge, for whenever you learn something new, the whole world becomes that much richer.
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Why can we remember the tiniest detail that has happened to us, and not remember how many times we have told it to the same person.
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Who has not felt the beauty of a woman's arm? The unspeakable suggestions of tenderness that lie in the dimpled elbow, and all the varied gently-lessening curves, down to the delicate wrist, with its tiniest, almost imperceptible nicks in the firm softness.
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If we become completely whole-hearted we will have love for all people and will seek in each person what is most holy, what God has inspired in him or her. And only then will there be no danger of softening or twisting our witness. Why? Because the capacity of our faith will no longer be narrow. If we are not broadhearted, we have not yet grasped the meaning of faith. We must always be ready to be newly led in our faith, even through the tiniest atom of godliness we find in others. It is that which leads us to the kingdom of God. We affirm that there is something of God in all people -- something of the light. It may only gleam now, but it will eventually lead to complete illumination.
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