Subj : Re: Are programmers like this in the real world?
To   : comp.programming
From : Charles Richmond
Date : Wed Jul 27 2005 03:24 am

davebsr wrote:
> 
> Charles Richmond wrote:
> > Scott Moore wrote:
> 
> [snip some history of CS]
> 
> > > We succeeded. Now there is much better productivity and less need for
> > > top level experts to do mundane programming work. If you say "any idiot
> > > can program", it's because we made it possible.
> > >
> > > Yea us. Thanks for the complement.
> > >
> > And what do you think that your reward will be for making yourself
> > obsolete??? Do you think the organization is going to keep you on
> > salary as a "programmer emeritus"??? Sounds to me like you just
> > worked yourself out of a job.
> >
> 
> I think it's ironic that you seem to disparage someone for working
> himself out of a job, yet your sig clearly says, "It is moral cowardice
> to leave undone what one perceives right to do."
> 
> I think it's our job as programmers to make using a computer easier for
> our users. Some of our users are programmers, so part of programming
> means making programming easier to do.
> 
My belief is that things become easier and easier, until once they are
*so* easy, they are *not* worth doing anymore. At that point, there will
be *no* programming jobs whatever.
>
> Now, just because it's easier to make a program print a line or display
> a dialog box does not make the hard parts of programming easier. There
> are things about programming that will not be solved by better
> compilers or tools. Things that will require something other than
> better programs to become easy.
> 
Because computers are such common objects these days, I believe that
the worth of the work of programmers has been devalued. ISTM that it's
*not* really easier to program today, but the general opinion is that
programming has become very easy. I am willing to be proven wrong also.
>
> Those that can really do well at programming could probably do well
> anywhere. Their intelligence, problem solving, and people skills would
> be invaluable in any field. And that is the person I strive to be.
> 
I would agree that a job (if *not* a programming job) will always be
there for someone with the three attributes you mention above. But I
do *not* think that most who excel in programming...also have great
people skills.
>
>         [snip...]         [snip...]         [snip...]
>
> Therefore, I would argue, you cannot work yourself out of a job - a job
> will always be there for a person who can do those things. And a person
> who can make the tools good enough that anyone can use them easily will
> probably be quite successful for doing so. Look at Microsoft. Perhaps
> now the task is to teach this mass of new programmers the real skills -
> not 'how to draw a box', but how to really build for quality, how to
> build a program that his or her users will love.
> 
I object to the notion that Microsoft "builds for quality", unless you
are referring to *poor* quality. I have been around for all the decades
that Microsoft built its empire, and I am aware of how the fortune was 
made.


--
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|  Charles and Francis Richmond  It is moral cowardice to leave  |
|                                undone what one perceives right |
|  richmond at plano dot net     to do.   -- Confucius           |
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