On Mon, Jul 18, 2016 at 11:29:25PM +0900, Simon Walter wrote:
> On 07/18/2016 11:06 PM, Hendrik Boom wrote:
> >On Mon, Jul 18, 2016 at 08:16:03AM +0200, Edward Bartolo wrote:
> >>Hi,
> >>
> >>Simon Walker wrote:
> >
> >>
> >><<
> >>Can you explain how a computer works to a child or perhaps a rubber duck?
> >>>>
> >>You place a child at the same level as a rubber duck?! A child can
> >>understand provided any concepts used are within his/her mental age.
> >
> >So can a rubber duck understand any concepts within its mental age.
> >But none are. That's the difference.
> >
>
> I am distinguishing between the two. Obviously Edwardo does not understand
> English that well. Maybe I should thrown an "even" in there. However, the
> rubber duck is important. It's not a term I came up with, as I am sure many
> of you know. Though I would like propose a new term: shit programming. It
> happens on the toilet. AKA "the aha moment".

Explaining the plot to a rubber duck is one of the techniques fictino
writers sometimes use when figuring out where a novel is going. It's
not about whether the duck understands, It's about organising the
writer's thoughts.

-- hendrikk