* at 02/02 12:25 -0000 Jonathan Peterson said:
> >
> > > However, I don't question the plumber's competence, or
> > indeed pretend to
> > > anyone including myself that I can do a good job of it.
> > The same should
> > > apply to programming. If I were to try my hand at
> > re-plumbing my kitchen,
> > > I know I'd make a god-awful mess, and I am intelligent enough to not
> > > attempt it. The great unwashed should approach programming
> > the same way.
<snip type="good points" />
> Expertism is a dangerous trend. A little knowledge is _not_ a dangerous
> thing. The only dangerous thing is not knowing the _extent_ of your (little)
> knowledge.
and here is the flaw. it's teh knowing the extent of your knowledge
that's the hard part and the bit that the learn perl while you wait
for the kettle to boil type books don't seem (IMO) very good at
instilling. I'm all for trying to get more people to program perl or
any other language but at the same time i'd like it to be done in a
sensible way.
not only as having bad perl floating about there isn't a good thing,
also 'cause if you teach someone bad habits then if they continue they
are going to have to unlearn them all, or things will be harder than
they should be and they're more likely to get disgruntled.
we have enough problems with people looking at perl and thinking "mmm,
that looks hard, i'll learn python" without having them 'learn' perl
then discover half of what they learnt is bad perl.
you have to teach them some theory of good programming, as at the end
of the day it _will_ make their lives easier.
struan
