Quote:Original post by aaron_ds Real programmers don't memorize everything. Real programmers know where and how to look up exactly what they need, even if they've never done it before.
THANK YOU FOR THAT LINK!!! I Havn't laughed that hard in quite awhile.
This part isn't a joke:
Quote:The academics in computer science have gotten into the "structured programming" rut over the past several years. They claim that programs are more easily understood if the programmer uses some special language constructs and techniques. They don't all agree on exactly which constructs, of course, and the example they use to show their particular point of view invariably fit on a single page of some obscure journal or another-- clearly not enough of an example to convince anyone. When I got out of school, I thought I was the best programmer in the world. I could write an unbeatable tic-tac-toe program, use five different computer languages, and create 1000 line programs that WORKED (Really!). Then I got out into the Real World. My first task in the Real World was to read and understand a 200,000 line Fortran program, then speed it up by a factor of two. Any Real Programmer will tell you that all the Structured Coding in the world won't help you solve a problem like that-- it takes actual talent
Let me put it this way, we know what we want to accomplish but we don't know how or if it's even possible in the way that we think it should be done. The entire programming community is struggling with this problem and I'm slowly being convinced that it can't be done. Design patterns help somewhat but it's a very specific solution for very specific problem one that is not as common as the rest of problems in the system. So programming complex things will remain a dirty job because it's the nature of the thing that makes it so. And you're right about the schools, the complexity you experience on a real project can't even be approached in a class. It's these types of projects that reveal the true nature of what programming is all about. Especially, game programming where things are always moving under your feet so to speak.
I think a good programmer should have a good broad knowledge of the language they are using, but even more importantly knowledge of the operating system and hardware architecture they are programming for. This is what makes good programmers I believe. On the subject of references, I have many books I refer to when my memory goes blank, we all have these periods.. even with languages sometimes but a simple look at a reference would save a lot of wasted time, which commercially = money!
--------------------------- Demo Or Die!---------------------------
