Re: Programming question-Please help

From: Richard Rognlie <rrognlie@gamerz.net>

Date: Sun, 06 Jun 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Tim Lomas wrote:
>
> On Sat, 5 Jun 1999 13:27:03 +0100, [Tariz] The Dungeon Master wrote:
>
> >It takes around 10 years of practice to become a
> >GOOD programmer but most people can learn the fundementals in 6-18 months.
>
> This is the sort of tosh that programmers have been bandying around
> for years.
>
> Most people can learn the fundamentals of programming in a couple
> of weeks and it takes nowhere near 10 years to become a good programmer.
>
> Apply yourself to it, possess basic intelligence and you can become
> proficient well inside a year.
>
> Obviously you get better with more practise but the idea that programming
> is some sort of black magic died years ago.

Programming not a black art.  but it is an art.  I learned BASIC (yes, I admit
it...) back in the days of the TRS-80.  It took 3 weeks for me to do a years
worth of course work from my local high school (I was a freshman, and could
not officially take the course until two years later...  go figure)

Anyway, you can learn the language easily enough.  But the *algorithms* are
what will make or break you.  If you do not understand queueing theory, or
good data structure design, sure... you can hack something together.  But
it will be just that.  A hack.  And when you go to debug something in your
code six months from now, you may have no clue what you were thinking then.

I've been programming for pushing 20 years now (a frightening thought) and
I really didn't "mature" (as a programmer, certainly not as a person...)
until about 10 years ago.  I just didn't have the exposure or experience.

It really is "the Art of computer science".

Richard

--
 /  \__  | Richard Rognlie / Sendmail Consultant / Sendmail, Inc.
 \__/  \ | URL:    http://www.gamerz.net/rrognlie/
 /  \__/ | Give a man a fish, and he'll be hungry tomorrow.  Teach a
 \__/    | man to fish, and he'll be at the river all day drinking beer.

References

Programming question-Please help
Sam Palmer <Sam@Bitton.homeway.demon.co.uk>
Fri, 04 Jun 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Programming question-Please help
"[Tariz] The Dungeon Master" <adnd@mailandnews.com>
Sat, 05 Jun 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Programming question-Please help
"Tim Lomas" <tim@antsnest.demon.co.uk>
Sun, 06 Jun 1999 00:00:00 +0000