Andrew Warren wrote:
>
> Tjaart van der Walt <tjaart@wasp.co.za> wrote:
>
>     As you know, I do a fair amount of "pure" consulting in addition
>     to the contract design that occupies most of my time... Most of
>     that consulting is for companies with small (one- to
>     three-person) software-engineering departments.
>
>     You'd be amazed -- I was, initially -- at the lack of quality in
>     the code produced by most of these teams... I usually ask to see
>     examples of both their most-recently- and LEAST-recently-written
>     code, and there's often no real improvement between the two
>     examples, even in cases where the guys have been writing PIC
>     code for YEARS.
>
>     It's not their fault, really; it's just that they've usually been
>     working in isolation and just don't realize that there ARE better
>     ways.  Also, many of the "software engineers" in the
>     embedded-control industry have little or no formal software
>     training... Lots of them are electrical engineers who just fell
>     into writing software out of necessity.
>
>     No matter what the reason for their poor skills, though, most of
>     the clients to whom I show those programming "tricks" INSTANTLY
>     see the light and are able to make HUGE leaps forward.
>
>     More importantly, though, the realization that "there are more
>     things in assembly-language software than are dreamt of in their
>     philosophy" seems to rekindle their interest in programming...
>     The same guys who were content to let their skills stagnate for
>     years suddenly start telephoning to tell me about the exciting
>     new programming techniques they've "discovered", and when I make
>     a followup visit six months after the initial one, I usually find
>     that their newest code is SIGNIFICANTLY improved over the crap
>     they used to write.

Touche! I visited a major local company some time ago and discovered
that they use a compiler that I personally found *many* bugs in.
(Even more than MPLABC <G>)

>
>     So, to get back to my point...
>
>     Programming languages are just like all human languages; it's
>     possible (and maybe even desirable) to learn the vocabulary and
>     grammar on your own, but in order to become FLUENT, you need to
>     have a strong grasp on the language's idioms, dialects, and
>     subtle nuances... And to accomplish that, you need to actually
>     interact with people who already SPEAK the language.

>     Just my opinion; I could be wrong.

I agree - as long as you know the basics before you start making
speeches. Otherwise you'd be asking people for a pre-written speech
because you don't want to reinvent the wheel.... Geez, how *that* one
really grates me!

--
Friendly Regards

Tjaart van der Walt
mailto:tjaart@wasp.co.za
 _____________________________________________________________
| Another sun-deprived R&D Engineer slaving away in a dungeon |
|             WASP International  http://wasp.co.za           |
|             GSM and GPS value-added applications            |
|  Voice : +27-(0)11-622-8686   |   Fax : +27-(0)11-622-8686  |
|_____________________________________________________________|