Dean Kent writes:
The human mind has a limited capacity for organizing information into
something meaningful. It would be interesting to see a graph showing the
percentage of people able to properly handle various levels of complexity,
and I suspect that as the complexity increases the dropoff would become
more
and more dramatic vs. something more linear. Therefore, rather than an
excuse, concern about complexity would seem to be a very real one.
Views like his are common, but they are also curiously parochial. Someone
who wants to do physics is expected to master the necessary techniques, and
if he cannot it is politely but firmly made clear to him that he must do
something else.
With programmers, on the other hand, we too often proceed very differently.
Statement-level procedural languages like COBOL are frequently subsetted,
the use of notionally "difficult" language features being interdicted as
"too complex" in many shops. It would be much better to interdict
professional programming to anyone who cannot master all of the features of
any of these SLPLs.
John Gilmore
Ashland, MA 01721-1817
USA
_________________________________________________________________
Get a FREE Web site, company branded e-mail and more from Microsoft Office
Live! http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/mcrssaub0050001411mrt/direct/01/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO
Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
