I think that is ridiculous...
I write out my classes, function names and variables within the functions down - this is so I know what im doing and the general design i have, it's hard for me to think on the fly especially about naming my functions and variables - if I don't, i always get hang ups about the names of my functions and variables since i don't think they're clear enough and it's a whole waste of time i spend readjusting the names and then deleting variables and never get down to a real working product.
You absolutely don't need to hand write code down but it's such a wonderful time saver to have all your classes and functions and most of your variables mapped out before you begin... Also, i aint no super human and i rely alot on the code libraries and MSDN out there to help me do the meatball stuff so i don't really memorize much... I can't imagine coding on paper without any help - most books won't have everything you need - you'd have to become a roving library.
I do get maybe his motivation - I to don't enjoy spending a long time on the keyboard typing and looking at the screen - it's much more comfortable to sit outside or even laydown and design on paper than a laptop and especially a desktop.
