• The ‘FizzBuzz’ Programming Test: A Case-Based Exploration of Rhetorical Style in Code

    Author(s):
    Kevin Brock (see profile)
    Date:
    2016
    Group(s):
    Digital Humanists, Digital Humanities, Poetics and Poetry
    Subject(s):
    Source code (Computer science), Critical theory, Rhetoric, Computer software--Study and teaching, Communication of technical information
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    code, style, Critical code studies, Digital rhetoric, Software studies, Technical communication
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6FP1F
    Abstract:
    Every code text is informed by stylistic decisions that impact how the text is interpreted and understood. While software developers have long discussed concerns of style in regards to writing code, scholars of computation would benefit from a rhetorical approach to style, an approach that links style to substance and sees style as situated and audience-specific. In this essay, several stylistic variations of code written for the ‘FizzBuzz’ hiring test are examined in order to demonstrate the significance of stylistic choice in code composition. The range of approaches coders might take to communicate a preferred method of accomplishing a given task in code indicates that rhetorical style performs an important role in how code is accessed and comprehended by human and nonhuman audiences alike. Accordingly, software critics need to attend more closely to the ways that coders employ rhetorical style in order to induce particular types of rhetorical action through their code texts and practices.
    Notes:
    This article was originally published (and is available to read) at http://computationalculture.net/the-fizzbuzz-programming-test-a-case-based-exploration-of-rhetorical-style-in-code/
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. Date:
    2016
    Journal:
    Computational Culture
    Volume:
    5
    Page Range:
    n.p. -
    ISSN:
    2047-2390
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    5 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved

    Downloads

    Item Name: pdf brock-the-fizzbuzz-programming-test.pdf
      Download View in browser
    Activity: Downloads: 325

    Back to Deposits