Writing Text Is More Taxing Than Writing Code

Talked to Adam (yes, that's a pseudonym, folks) today, mostly about his dissertation writing. One interesting line he had toward the beginning is that he recently realized that he can't spend six hours a day writing. (By writing he included reading papers that he needs to refer to in the dissertation.) By contrast, he can spend as long as ten hours a day coding.

This all struck me as very interesting. What is there about writing text that, at least for Adam, is so much more exhausting than writing code? Both involve typing at a keyboard and putting marks on a computer screen. He uses the same machine for doing both. And he uses the same tools/programs for doing both activities. I don't think it's just the fact that he writes code more often than he writes text. I think there must be something qualitatively different in writing text. The thing I need to do is spend more time pondering this and theorize it in my dissertation as I revise the chapter that is about Adam.