On Fri, May 29, 2015 at 4:34 AM, Ihe Onwuka <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > On Fri, May 29, 2015 at 1:55 AM, daniela florescu <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> How about starting tomorrow we allow random people from the street, >> without any medical qualifications, to start >> doing heart surgery at the Stanford Medical School !??? >> >> Or we allow anybody from the street, without any architectural or >> structural mechanics qualifications to start building bridges in San >> Francisco !? >> >> Or tomorrow I'll show up at the San Francisco airport and tell them that >> I'm the one piloting the plane to New York !? >> >> =========== >> >> Bottom line...only in software such an aberration is tolerated..... >> >> > Because unlike in the other instances the true effect of software designed > by amateurs lies latent and is usually neither immediately nor outwardly > apparent. > > Tolerated is the wrong word. The entire industry has coalesced around > technologies and methodologies designed to enable the amateur coder to > write professional software and these are the people that determine the > fate of your engineering solution and what tools and methods you are going > to have to work with. Look at the recent changes in MarkLogic and you can > clearly see where they try to cater to that demographic. Or look at Apache > Spark - built in Scala - do you think their support for Scala emanates from > engineering considerations. > > that should read ... do you think their support for Python emanates from engineering considerations. > So then you have an environment in which it is more important to know how > to use these tools and methods than it is to have a fundamental > understanding of what it is you are doing. As an example (he says > deliberately avoiding ones close to home), look at Data Science. Industry > is such that it is more important to know how to program in R than it is to > have a basic understanding of Statistics, but the nature of the output they > produce is such that the effects of such practices will remain camouflaged > for a long time to come (or until the UK has another general election). R > in particular is one to watch, because of all the hype you have a > confluence of people who know little about Statistics and even less about > programming. > > I could go on..... the reality is that today people today want to query > semi-structured data in Javascript, Python and R and you can't look to > their management because this is the first generation that grew up with > managers that did not have a computer science or engineering background. > > So sadly Daniela, politics and populism trump engineering and not enough > lives are at risk in what we do for that to ever change. The choice is to > come to terms with it, go back to research or find something else to do. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >> Dana >> >> >> >> On May 28, 2015, at 10:29 PM, Ihe Onwuka <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> But you are not producing solutions for other engineers. >> >> If you tell a developer with zero engineering qualifications their design >> is structurally flawed or that they are using the wrong tools they (or >> their boss) will turn around and tell you that there are several ways of >> doing things and theirs is equally valid...... and that's if they are being >> polite. >> >> Then a couple of epochs and a failed project later they will get feted >> for writing a blog about how you shouldn't use what they used or shouldn't >> do what they did. Most probably said blog will focus on the effects of what >> they did because they probably still don't understand the cause. >> >> On Thu, May 28, 2015 at 5:43 PM, daniela florescu <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> >>>> >>> It proves that when it comes to IT you can put lipstick on a pig. If you >>> were trying to name the language today JShit would probably market test >>> better than XQuery. >>> >>> >>> >>> That’s why I’m so tired of the database “science” and the database >>> “scientific” community, and I run away to 3D and Augmented reality — which >>> is at the beginning, >>> nobody makes billions (yet) and there is still some love of technology, >>> some honesty and integrity, and deep, serious enthusiasm. There is still >>> some innocence... >>> >>> Right now the “database market” is just lipstick on a (VERY LARGE) pig. >>> Lots of money spent on marketing scream, and unfortunately developers flock >>> like sheep >>> towards the ones who scream the most, without any clue of “why”. >>> >>> Yet we have no clue why a solution is better then other, no benchmarks, >>> just hacky solutions, or temporary solutions which will disappear in 5-10 >>> years, etc. >>> >>> Maybe it's because of your abhorrence of stupidity you tend not to stick >>> around long enough to witness just how stupid some people are. >>> >>> >>> Well, I am VERY patient when I want to.... I did stay with the XML >>> community since 1997, despite my deep dislike for processing >>> instructions... :-) >>> >>> But I see my role as an engineer to build good engineering solutions, >>> not to increase the IQ of the general population. That’s not my job. >>> >>> Best regards >>> Dana >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >> [email protected] >> http://x-query.com/mailman/listinfo/talk >> >> >> >
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