On 01/12/2011 10:38 AM, Kent Borg wrote:
> Mark Woodward wrote:
>> I'm so tired, it seems like "software development" is more
>> "software integration" these days. Maybe I'm old and washed up.
> I am so old I remember a Byte magazine issue all about reusable software
> components and how they might ever happen. The gist was that the
> software types were feeling left out, that hardware folks got to plug
> together components, but software was always written from scratch. And
> what could be done about it. A entire fat issue on the question. No
> clear answers. (It would be interesting to look at that issue again and
> compare that perspective with what has happened since.)
>
> Times have, indeed, changed. There is a lot of powerful software out
> there that is both specialized and not-too-specific (apache being the
> canonical example). There are various programming languages that are
> better suited to some tasks than others, there are enormous libraries of
> useful code written for these languages. There are big ways to plug big
> things together (XML and HTML and...). There are successful object
> frameworks, but oddly, they seem less important that I think was guessed
> from the '80s. Much of this stuff is free.
>
> So something that old timers once wished for has come true. We have
> become integrators, but we also get to work on higher level problems
> now. (Jeepers, what a little Python can do; put it behind apache and it
> can even be big-time useful.)
>
> My advice: Keep moving forward. Learn new things, and learn new ways.
> Use your long experience to bring valuable perspective, but be up to
> doing battle with the young-whipper-snappers on their terms, too. ("Old
> age and treachery always overcome youth and skill", I think the old
> Waylon and Willie song goes.)
>
> We had an co-op/intern for a few months this summer and fall, and I was
> astounded by what he didn't know (aren't *I* smart) and I was astounded
> by what he learned (aren't I in trouble).
>
>
> -kb, the Kent who also had a long unemployment stint recently.
>
> _
One issue in our industry is that technology changes fast. We need to be
able to use out skills in new areas. As you implied, there is a lot of
applications that are written to use a web interface so that the
programmers really don't have to write X or Windows apps per se. Android
uses Java, and most Android apps are written in such a manner that the
screen geometry can be coded in relative terms so the same app with work
fine on a Samsung Galaxy Tab or a Motorola Backflip. Virtually all the
widgets are available to you. Of course there is not a lot of money you
are going to make with an Android or iPhone app.
--
Jerry Feldman <[email protected]>
Boston Linux and Unix
PGP key id: 537C5846
PGP Key fingerprint: 3D1B 8377 A3C0 A5F2 ECBB CA3B 4607 4319 537C 5846
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