How to Communicate Proofs or Programs

Abstract

Why is formalization so much fun to do or to talk about, and so boring to listen to? How excited most of us get when we prove a new theorem or develop a program, or even more when we explain it to someone else! The “someone” may be a fellow researcher, or a class of students, or the audience at a conference. But do we show the same excitement if we are the someone, but are not ourselves involved in the question, or at least active in the field? Why do students shun mathematical lectures? Why do we fall asleep during a talk? With writing and reading papers it is not so different. Or am I the only one who loves to do mathematics, but tries to avoid reading the papers of others?