Hi Lindsay,
Long time no chat.
> > This is easily illustrated by looking at the code such people
> write. They
> > often tend to
> > use a small subset of the language in a particular way. Such usage is far
> > from optimal.
>
>This is also a characteristic of good programmers too - I disagree that
>this is non-optimal.
The difference with professional programmers is that their subset has
been chosen by them as being the best one to use. The subsets used by
application developers usually represent a set of constructs that lodged
in their mind when being taught.
The difference is often easy to spot, as you know, because of the elegance
of one and the disjoint nature of the other.
Measurement of programming expertise needs to get away from this notion
that time in the job is a proper measure. I started to learn Japanese
around seven years ago. I don't get to use it often these days and
could not hold a sensible conversation in it. A person living in Japan
for six months would have much greater skill than me.
What counts is the need to learn and constant practice with different
forms. As pointed out by Ruven Brooks, in the commercial world the
application is everything. The average developer does not have the need
to become proficient at programming.
derek
--
Derek M Jones tel: +44 (0)
1252 520 667
Knowledge Software
Ltd mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Applications Standards Conformance Testing http://www.knosof.co.uk
