Re: AS/400 RPG Certification Test

[Pete Hall <peteh@xxxxxxxxxx>]

At 08:56 09/02/98 -0500, Richard Baird wrote:
>Ken,
>
>I took the test, got a 92. (woohoo)


I suppose at some level these tests are fine, but I really question their value 
for anything but the lowest skill level. I write several different languages, 
and currently two different dialects of RPG. It' just not possible to keep it 
all 100% straight. For the more esoteric things (which indicators do what for 
TESTN? How do you find the system name for an SQL table? What the ~@!# is the 
op code for rollback this week?), I look it up in the manual. Life's too short 
to worry about this crap. You'd have to be an idiot savant. I think it's much 
more important to know how to quickly find that obscure bit of info than it is 
to be able to recite it on command. A good programmer can quickly shift gears 
and adapt to whatever environment is at hand. I'll always prefer someone who 
can think over someone who can only recite.

Pete Hall
peteh@inwave.com 
http://www.inwave.com/~peteh/

+---
| This is the Midrange System Mailing List!
| To submit a new message, send your mail to MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com.
| To subscribe to this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-SUB@midrange.com.
| To unsubscribe from this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-UNSUB@midrange.com.
| Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator: david@midrange.com
+---