SemiOT: Mourning for Classic Computing

From: Richard Erlacher <edick_at_idcomm.com>
Date: Mon Aug 20 09:07:04 2001

Unlike the '80's, nowadays, there are other things that are as important as
actually knowing how, and having the needed discipline, to generate a sensible
program. Today's issues are not new, but they're getting less attention than
they once got. These include simple questions such as, "Which tasks can
reasonably be sujected to full or partial automation"? Too often, I see folks
attempting to "computerize" tasks that are insufficiently rigorous to permit
them to be automated. Programs become needlessly complex when the computer is
required to do the analysis that the system designer should have done, and that
leads to "cut-and-try" approaches that most often fail over the long run.

The real problem doesn't seem to me to lie in the dearth of programmers or
engineers, though there's little overlap between those two, but rather in the
dearth of competent analysts. Kids in high school can learn enough to program a
well-defined task. However, they're not trained in high school to analyze a
problem before attempting to solve it, and the colleges don't really do that
either. Consequently, if a person hasn't learned to "be an engineer" before
he's asked to do a job, he probably can't do it. Engineering is a discipline
that's largely based on a personality type. That type is bent on solving
problems with what's available to him/her. Not everybod comes from there.

Dick

----- Original Message -----
From: "Douglas Quebbeman" <dhquebbeman_at_theestopinalgroup.com>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2001 6:54 AM
Subject: RE: SemiOT: Mourning for Classic Computing


> > Granted, if you want to become an engineer, or in the very least a
> > "professional", you have to evolve beyond trial and error. But as I said,
> > you have to start at the bottom and work your way up. I would never start
> > a student off in a rigorous, structured environment. What a perfect way
> > to turn them off.
>
> If it had ever been true that there existed a real programming labor
> shortage, I'd agree, we'd want to mainstream people into the field,
> not scare them away from it.
>
> However, from a strictly economic point of view, I don't beleive I
> benefit from the expansion of the programming labor pool. And I was
> of this mind when I was a student consultant in college, and yes
> indeed, I did everything I could to scare off or alienate anyone
> from pursuing programming as a career.
>
> One such individual was a friend of my nephew, and once I caught him
> digging my program listings out of the recycle bin, I was convinced
> the field would be better off without him.
>
> Today, he doesn't code, he's a consultant...
>
> Reards,
> -dq
>
>
Received on Mon Aug 20 2001 - 09:07:04 BST