On Wed, Mar 13, 2002 at 10:19:18AM -0600, Chris Devers wrote: > On Wed, 13 Mar 2002, Teodor Zlatanov wrote: > > > People who don't know the math and algorithms behind programming > > should not be writing commercial-grade programs. That we allow, > > even encourage such programmers to code by paying money for their > > services, is one of the reasons why software in today's world lags > > behind the other engineering disciplines. > > Fair enough, but then it's not like we expect every mechanic out there > -- or even any significant number of them -- to have automitive > engineering degrees.
Mechanics are not engineers. I am talking about mechanical, aerospace, civil engineers compared to software engineers. > Didn't lots of well known inventors [Edison] have little to no formal > education? A few people have special abilities, sure. I don't think that's an excuse for those who have neither the abilities nor the education, though :) > This isn't to disagree with your point per se, but just to point out > that it's possible to do a good job with only a tinkerer's > understanding of how things really, formally Work. There is a place > for such tinkerers along side the more rigorously trained experts that > the field needs to have. Absolutely. The tinkerers should not be writing commercial-grade software without understanding basic concepts involved, that's all. Ted
