MESSAGE
| DATE | 2005-02-12 |
| FROM | Billy
|
| SUBJECT | Re: [hangout] Monitoring input in simple chat exercise.
|
Steve Milo wrote:
> A better anology would be that lawyers, doctors, CPA's, engineers, (and by
> some accounts mechanics) do not just jump in to get their feet wet.
> You are probably using a proprietary programming environment (libraries,
> IDE's) to write your 'simple' chat program. You have been probably using the
> 'help' or 'more info' menu's that pop up to help you with your learning curve.
> But you do not have the fundamentals of CompSci down, the fact that you know
> other languages and not C proves that. C is the standard by which other
> languages are judged against.
That proves nothing. There are several markets in which C is
almost irrelevant. Website programming, for example.
Sysadmins are far better off learning Bourne shell and Perl
than learning C (several sysadmins are in this very position).
Java is, of course, Java, and it's important where it's important.
C is what it is, and it has its place, but it's no longer the only
game in town.
> I see this all the time at school, kids are taking advanced C programming and
> do not know the math or the fundamentals behind it. Discussing just syntax is
> the norm and leaves students shaky on being able to wrap their minds around
> what is going on in the background. In that advanced C programming class the
> professor was explaining some of the math theory behind basic computer
> science. I was taking copious notes during this lecutre, during the break a
> student laughingly asked me 'did you take notes?'. I simply replied with a yes.
> In the second part of the session the professor went on to a more advanced
> topic and I was able to frame what he was saying against the theory he
> explained previously. The student who asked me about the notes was forced to
> ask questions which by that time seemed basic to me. The professor replied in
> the way I would have expected him to, so I knew I was on the right track and
> had the advantage the other student did not.
Just because you took notes? Probably just because you were smarter.
The notes couldn't have really helped, because you didn't have time
to refer to them yet. Do you suppose simply WRITING the notes enhanced
your understanding of the material?
> Billy has the benefit of being an engineer and is able to grasp programming
> because he has the insight that comes with that kind of education.
You have to develop intuition about the root causes of your bugs.
Then, you can do yourself one better by developing intuition about
the root causes of bugs you haven't written yet. That is to say,
you have to learn how to design programs that not only work, but
provide the fewest hiding places for bugs. Bugs thrive in the darkness
of the complex shadows of imdedence-mismatched APIs, state-clutter,
and memory mismanagement. The ability to route around the causes of
these phenomena is possibly impossible to teach.
> There is a difference between computer programmers and software engineers.
> That fact you will not hear very often because for some strange reason people
> who have no direct benefit are trying to sell you on some proprietary
> solution. Sadly this contributes to the fracturing of the computer industry
> which results in poor products which is masked by the illusion of sound marketing.
Truly true.
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