Re: not enough real programmers? (was Re: Byte Magazine: 18 Vintage issues, 1985-1986)

[Pete Fenelon <pete@fenelon.com>]

In alt.folklore.computers Matt Curtin <cmcurtin@interhack.net> wrote:
>  o Ask for their environment customization files (.emacs, .kshrc,
>    .profile, .login, etc.)

I'd want to see intelligent minimalism at play here. I groan whenever
I see the waste of time and effort some people put into environment
tinkering -- this is the sort of philosophy that leads to half a dozen
engineers each of whom insists on a different and specific version of half
the gnu tools, spending all day rebuilding /usr/local, and grabbing piles
of Enlightenment themes to make their systems look like their favourite
sci-fi movie... It's just grafitti. Get a machine or account set up,
don't muck about with settings, and get the job done...

I'm a firm believer in the approach exemplified by Rob Pike's work --
get the defaults right and you won't need to even think about tinkering.

For what it's worth, I've been using Unix for something like 13 years.
My .rcrc on my home machines is three lines long. My window manager of choice 
is completely unconfigurable. My .exrc has remained unchanged since the late
80s.... 

>  o Ask for samples of their work

Often difficult, due to NDAs with previous employers.

>  o Ask to which open source projects they contribute and what they've
>    contributed. 

Interesting, but only really applicable in the *ix community. 

ObCSA2: ] CALL -151

*3D0G 
(or is memory failing me?)

pete
--
pete@fenelon.com "there's no room for enigmas in built-up areas" (HMHB)