Re: A Dialogue

On 9/25/07, James Lampert <jamesl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

But hopefully you can manage at least two languages?

I can manage 6 on good day, but I think that is irrelevant. There was a
time when I could only manage one, and I promise you I was a good programmer
then as well. I think a "good programmer" can learn new languages fairly
easily. What makes a good programmer is not what he or she already knows:
it's whether or not they have the capacity to solve problems. Knowing
syntax always plays second fiddle to problem solving.

My point was not to deprecate the non-degreed, but to (1) deprecate any

university, college, or junior college that graduates computer science
majors who only know one language, and (2) remind everybody that (as
Maslow put it) if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem
begins to resemble a nail.

But you didn't say anything of the sort. You said "a good programmer..." and
then gave us your list, which included the items I can't meet. By your
standards I'm not a good programmer. And like I said, I'll just have to
live with that.

My point is that your "good programmer" requirements sounded a little
elitist. If this is not the case, then perhaps you should express yourself
more clearly.