Jon Steinhart <jon(_at_)fourwinds(_dot_)com> writes:
This is one of those places where we'll have to respectfully disagree. I'm
Respectfully? You imply i am not a professional.
but I think that programming is still something that should be done by
professionals. I don't want someone hacking on code that doesn't take the ti
me
to figure out what's going on first. Protecting against the really silly
mistakes allows such people to make really complex ones. As I said in my
Give me a break. You want to pull the Real Man argument, fine,
but don't call yourself a professional. Real Men make mistakes
too, and don't tell me you've never slapped yourself on the head
as you realize it was a tiny silly error all along. You come off
sounding inexperienced more than anything else. It is this kind
of idiocy that kept a debugger out of Linux for so many years:
Linus is a Real Man and Real Men don't need debuggers.
Aside from that, here's something you didn't think of. There
*are* "unprofessional" programmers out there in the open source
world. Hobbyists, i call them, since i don't go in for classism
and value hobbyists as much as "professionals", not least because
they're often less arrogant and more willing to learn than my
fellow "professionals".
What, you still want more? OK, there is the class i fall into.
A "professional" who doesn't get to do much (if any) free
software work at the job. When i come home i'm tired and much
more likely to be tripped up by silly errors like the one i
postulated. Would you rather do without my contributions?
Too flamey? Possibly. Uncalled for? Absolutely not. I see
this crap all the time and i am tired of it. But you know what
really drives me up the wall? I deal with people like you every
day in the "professional" world. Arrogant, stupid people who
don't like any redundancy or "wasted" effort at all. The
reductionist approach inevitably leads to mistakes. *It* is
sloppy, not careful, explicit, *maintainable* code.
Earlier today i was reminded of a quote from Londo Mollari, of
Babylon 5. Hilarious that i was reminded of it today, in light
of the drivel i am responding to now.
"Ah! Arrogance and stupidity in the same package, how efficient
of you!"
Oh, some details.
Snipped because they are inconsequential to this follow-up. It
appears you were correct in this specific case (i do not have
the time to double-check you, but i trust you). It is the
attitude you have that concerns me.
--
Eric Gillespie <*> epg(_at_)pretzelnet(_dot_)org
Build a fire for a man, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on
fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. -Terry Pratchett