Re: not enough real programmers?

[Victoria Welch <vikki@oz.net>]

Dennis Clark wrote:
> 
> : > int x[10] = { ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ? };
> : >[ ... ]
> 
>   This goes a long way towards understanding the poor state of affairs in
> our CS world.  "Prove you're a programmer - hack out some code off the top
> of your head".  How much code out there comes from this mindset?  We should
> be asking programmers to plan a project by giving them a trivial project
> example via a user specifications description and see where that takes
> him/her.  It would be a more telling tale of what you really want.  Any
> damn programmer can learn a language and write a sort routine.  Good
> programmers know how to design and plan.
> 
>   My answer to the above four questions would be first "go find some code
> that has already been written by someone else to solve such a trivial
> problem."

Bravo Mr. Clark !  What a breath of fresh air!  

I'd been reading this thread thinking, "Gee, this is just like job
hunting lately".  Much trivia no meat.  99% of the interview questions
I've had have been like this.  Can you design a system that is coherent
and comprehensive that *supports* the company?  No one seems to care, I
don't keep code snippits in my head, that is too easy to come up with in
short order anyway.

As a pilot I once knew taking a check ride one told the CFIs when asked
how wide something on the airplane was: "If you want me to build a box
for the damn thing, I'll get the aircraft handbook".

Now if the HR and even the management types I was meeting understood
this :-/.

Thanks & take care, Vikki 
--
Victoria Welch, WV9K, DoD#-13, Net/Sys/WebAdmin SeaStar.org,
vikki.oz.net
"Walking on water and developing software to specification are
easy as long as both are frozen" - Edward V. Berard.
Do not unto others, that which you would not have others do unto you.