Comments on: We All Suck at Programming http://kurt.karmalab.org/2007/05/14/we-all-suck-at-programming/ Schrade.Blog Fri, 09 Jul 2010 06:07:11 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: AkitaOnRails http://kurt.karmalab.org/2007/05/14/we-all-suck-at-programming/comment-page-1/#comment-81 AkitaOnRails Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 urn:uuid:{a.guid}#comment-81 I agree and this is something I evangelize for a long time and even in my book: languages have very much stagnated, there's no "revolution" in decades. What we are doing today is just building on top of existing things, just copy-cat stuff. Where are the Computer Science Bachelors? But, easy. This is not supposed to start a flame-war and no, Java or C# are hardly "revolutionary". Maybe when we shift paradigms for, say, quantum computing, we will need completely different algorithms and ways of doing programming. I agree and this is something I evangelize for a long time and even in my book: languages have very much stagnated, there’s no “revolution” in decades. What we are doing today is just building on top of existing things, just copy-cat stuff. Where are the Computer Science Bachelors? But, easy. This is not supposed to start a flame-war and no, Java or C# are hardly “revolutionary”. Maybe when we shift paradigms for, say, quantum computing, we will need completely different algorithms and ways of doing programming.

]]> By: Ramon Leon http://kurt.karmalab.org/2007/05/14/we-all-suck-at-programming/comment-page-1/#comment-82 Ramon Leon Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 urn:uuid:{a.guid}#comment-82 It's simple, and again, Alan Kay said it best. He basically said we're in the pop age of programming where programming itself is spreading faster than education, hence the complete lack of progress in 30 years. It's still happening today, bad/new programmers are being created at ever expanding rates far faster than bad/new programmers gaining enough experience and education to become good programmers. It's the tragedy of the commons. It’s simple, and again, Alan Kay said it best. He basically said we’re in the pop age of programming where programming itself is spreading faster than education, hence the complete lack of progress in 30 years.

It’s still happening today, bad/new programmers are being created at ever expanding rates far faster than bad/new programmers gaining enough experience and education to become good programmers. It’s the tragedy of the commons.

]]> By: Mark Thomas http://kurt.karmalab.org/2007/05/14/we-all-suck-at-programming/comment-page-1/#comment-83 Mark Thomas Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 urn:uuid:{a.guid}#comment-83 Ramon, Interesting thought... but of course if there are just as many good programmers today as there were 30 years ago, shouldn't there still be progress? Unless somehow the fact that good programmers are now in the minority somehow hampers efforts to revolutionize software. Ramon,

Interesting thought… but of course if there are just as many good programmers today as there were 30 years ago, shouldn’t there still be progress?

Unless somehow the fact that good programmers are now in the minority somehow hampers efforts to revolutionize software.

]]> By: Manuel http://kurt.karmalab.org/2007/05/14/we-all-suck-at-programming/comment-page-1/#comment-84 Manuel Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 urn:uuid:{a.guid}#comment-84 I think that starting with OOP you're able to build up your own domain language adhering to the rules of your favorite programming language. Why didn't natural or written language evolve to something with which we can express our ideas better than we do now? Because there is abstraction. With abstraction you can build domain languages. Why do you need more? I think that starting with OOP you’re able to build up your own domain language adhering to the rules of your favorite programming language.

Why didn’t natural or written language evolve to something with which we can express our ideas better than we do now? Because there is abstraction. With abstraction you can build domain languages. Why do you need more?

]]> By: Mike http://kurt.karmalab.org/2007/05/14/we-all-suck-at-programming/comment-page-1/#comment-85 Mike Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 urn:uuid:{a.guid}#comment-85 Not enough programmers have studied "traditional" computer science. Many are self-learnt, and many courses today don't cover programming paradigms in much detail. Concepts from the declarative and functional programming paradigms, for example, are little used and known despite being extremely effective for certain kinds of tasks. Everyone should learn a functional programming language (e.g. ML or Miranda), LISP and/or Prolog in additional to "everyday" Java/C++! Even if you only code in Java or C++, programmers can greatly benefit from applying concepts from and paradigms to write more efficient code. Unfortunately, this can also mean that your code is so "smart" that others that have not been exposes to other progamming paradigms can have a hard time figuring our how it works. Not enough programmers have studied “traditional” computer science. Many are self-learnt, and many courses today don’t cover programming paradigms in much detail. Concepts from the declarative and functional programming paradigms, for example, are little used and known despite being extremely effective for certain kinds of tasks. Everyone should learn a functional programming language (e.g. ML or Miranda), LISP and/or Prolog in additional to “everyday” Java/C++! Even if you only code in Java or C++, programmers can greatly benefit from applying concepts from and paradigms to write more efficient code. Unfortunately, this can also mean that your code is so “smart” that others that have not been exposes to other progamming paradigms can have a hard time figuring our how it works.

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