pragmatic-writing

# Pragmatic Writing Skill Writing style modeled on the masters of technical communication: Andy Hunt, Dave Thomas (The Pragmatic Programmer), and Joel Spolsky (Joel on Software). This skill transforms technical content into engaging, memorable prose. ## When to Use This Skill This skill applies when: - Creating technical blog posts, essays, or articles - Writing documentation that needs personality - Explaining complex concepts to developers - Crafting tutorials or how-to guides - Writing "lessons learned" or postmortem content - Any technical writing that should be read, not just referenced ## Core Philosophy > "The difference between 'almost right' and 'right' is the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning." — Mark Twain (quoted by Pragmatic Programmers) Technical writing doesn't have to be dry. The best technical writers make complex ideas feel obvious, use concrete examples before abstract theory, and treat the reader as a smart colleague. ## The 10 Core Techniques Reference the complete technique guide at [techniques.md](./references/techniques.md). ### 1. Concrete Before Abstract **Always** start with a concrete example, then extract the principle. ``` ❌ "Dependency injection is a design pattern where dependencies are passed to objects rather than created by them." ✅ "Imagine your class needs a database connection. You could create it yourself: def initialize @db = Database.new("localhost:5432") end But now your cla...