Learning to write and writing to learn: integrating communication skills into the computing curriculum

The era of the isolated computer hacker is over; today, effective written communication skills are recognized to be essential for computing professionals. While basic communication techniques may be developed in an English composition course, the opportunity to practise them in computing courses provides the opportunity for students to learn subject-specific writing styles (for example, program documentation). The paper surveys recent efforts to make writing an integral part of the computer science curriculum. A wide variety of approaches to improving student writing skills have been reported, ranging from incorporating writing assignments at all levels of the curriculum, to providing intensive writing experiences within “traditional” computing courses, to developing courses that are collaboratively taught between technical writing and computing lecturers