Sound Writing

While it may seem like Computer Science (CS) has very little to do with writing, strong written communication skills will help you succeed and stand out in this field. Writing code is a fundamental skill in CS, and while it’s different than any other form of writing it still requires organization and clarity. Other writing in CS includes commenting code to give it longevity and utility to other coders, and academic papers to share your work with other computer scientists. Read this section to learn some strategies for effective writing in computer science classes! Writing for CS classes generally takes two forms: Code and code comments, and formal academic papers. Because these two genres are so different, this chapter is split into a section for each. Other writing takes the form of less formal responses and short assignments. These will vary considerably and your professor’s instructions will provide the best guidelines.