Subj : What programmers do, how to do it well and what it takes
To   : comp.programming
From : Alexander Miha
Date : Tue Jul 26 2005 12:37 am

Several threads (on XP, grades, etc.) recently discussed "what
programmers do and how to do it well". Sometimes people wrongly
assume that they mostly agree on the "what" part and deal with "how",
leading to some heated exchanges.

Programming obviously means many different things. It would be
interesting to hear opinions on what those things are, what they
involve, require, offer (e.g. job prospects), avoiding "my dad is
daddier" arguments.  For example, how would we describe the field to
a bright undergraduate at a good school who is choosing what to do?

He knows the types of things he likes to do, e.g. implement a
well-documented design and see it work, or implement a new approach
to message encryption that he read in an article or a book, or
coordinate a SW development team, or improve the performance of a
scheduler in some OS or some such.

What if he wants to work reasonable hours on an interesting task?
What if he is OK with lending his body and soul for a few years to
make a lot of money?

Any comments?

-- 
Regards,
Miha

.