Writing vs. Programming

http://paulgraham.infogami.com/blog/writingvshacking

An interesting article on why writing is more difficult than programming. The crux is, in programming, there is a specific target - you can define what is correct and test if your code does it or not. With writing, how do you determine that? Yes you could set a specific objective in terms of what the piece needs to convey. But it could convey one thing to one and something else to someone else.

"I think good writers can push writing in the direction of Lego. As you get more willing to discard and rewrite stuff, you approach that feeling of total control you get with Lego and hacking. If there's something you don't like, you change it. At least, as I've gotten better at writing that's what's happened to me. I've become much more willing to throw stuff away."

I wish I could.