The very fact that we disagree on what we find readable should be evidence enough that it's subjective.
> It's just that as an industry we don't have large scale research into such things.
I don't need large scale research to tell me what I, personally, find easier or harder to read.
Research would tell us what the general rule of thumb is but that's very different to saying there's a definitive rule that applies to everyone uniformly.
> No, but our brains co-developed evolutionary for millions of years for some of us to be widely different than others in how they work.
Forgive me if I'm missing your point here but some people like fast cars and some people like to cycle. Some people want kids while others do not. Some people enjoy working in IT while others want to be gardeners, carpenters, mechanics, doctors, lawyers, etc.
Even specifically to HN, we have enough arguments on here about emacs vs vi; CLI vs GUI; and tiled window managers vs dynamic / overlapping windows to demonstrate that personal preference is alive and well in the field of IT. Yet it's strange how you consider it not to be applicable when it comes to language preferences. I suggest that's failing of imagination on your part.
>I don't need large scale research to tell me what I, personally, find easier or harder to read.
I think we do.
Your phrasing implies that everybody (or at least just you) already and always knows and uses the optimal code styles that make it "easier" for them to read code.
I very much doubt that's the case.
People are deluded about what's "best for them" all the time.
Not to mention "what's best" might change with familiarity with other styles, training, etc, and people could be stuck in a shallow local optimum.
>Forgive me if I'm missing your point here but some people like fast cars and some people like to cycle. Some people want kids while others do not. Some people enjoy working in IT while others want to be gardeners, carpenters, mechanics, doctors, lawyers, etc.
Those are matters of taste. Not matters of cognitive skills and how people read best, learn best, etc.
In fact, the popular myth of personal "learning styles" (X training style being best for some people, Y style best for others, etc) has been demolished.
And yet tons of people confused their "preferences" with some objective reality of their preferred style being better for them.
> Your phrasing implies that everybody (or at least just you) already and always knows and uses the optimal code styles that make it "easier" for them to read code.
No it doesn't. All I've been saying is I find Go - in general - more readable than other languages. Everything else thereafter is you badgering your language snobbishness onto others and me having to say, repeatedly, "I like what I like"
> Those are matters of taste. Not matters of cognitive skills and how people read best, learn best, etc.
"Read best" != "learn best". Anyone who has dyslexia will tell you that they struggle with layouts that others wouldn't take issue with. People who aren't native English speakers also often have different preferences for writing styles to native English speakers.
I don't think it is subjective.
It's just that as an industry we don't have large scale research into such things.
>What works for you isn't proof that it's the same for everyone else.
No, but our brains co-developed evolutionary for millions of years for some of us to be widely different than others in how they work.