Re: [PLUG] Why Can't Programmers.. Program?

[george@georgesbasement.com]

Thomas Delrue said:

> I once had a candidate who said "I can't write the code for
> this because I don't code, but I could explain to you how I
> would do it". *facepalm* what part of "/write a program/"
> do you not understand?

In the years before C [?] became the universal programmers'
language, I was forced by circumstances to learn Fortran, MAD,
Basic, Stamp Basic, TrueBasic and to use programs like DisplayWrite 3,
DisplayWrite 4 (or 6, I forget which) and so on, written for
a variety of platforms, with all sots of conventions, pitfalls,
etc. IBM's DisplayWrite got completely re-written and I had
to pay a very cooperative and inexpensive programmer located
in England to redo DisplayWrite 4 so I could use it on the PC-AT
computer that replaced my company's first computer, the PC-XT.

The computers' speed was never the issue ... it was the learning
curve for the S/W. Same for programming. There's Logic, and then
there's Programming.

Manhole cover are round so's they won't fall through the hole,
not because the folks who have to lift them can't read. Then
someone invented the notched cover ... and now you _can_ drop
them through the hole; that's progress.

George Langford, still using the 'Net at 80 in SE PA.
george@georgesbasement.com
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