[shrugger]

And you say you don't like Ayn Rand! Terse is just another word for unimaginative, when it comes to prose.

I think you might be blurring the lines between writing something in a socratic dialogue versus writing technical documentation. Dijkstra, obviously often is writing in the former style and so there's plenty of room for his personality in the text and it doesn't take away from the overall quality and cohesiveness of the text.

[steveklabnik]

I don't think I'm blurring; if anything, I'm sharpening! Not all text is the same, and it's important to know what you're trying to accomplish when you set out to write something.

[gizmo]

Hemmingway has a terse writing style, but few consider his prose unimaginative.