RE: Display file puzzlement

There's no vaccine for dumba$$, is there?

Paul Nelson
Office 512-392-2577
Cell 708-670-6978
nelsonp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx


-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of John McKee
Sent: Saturday, April 19, 2008 7:56 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: Display file puzzlement

Quoting Simon Coulter <shc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

On 19/04/2008, at 6:10 PM, Vernon Hamberg wrote:

So true about how we learn - was just talking to a friend about my
first programming instructor at the tech institute - made the point
that no one would be standing over my shoulder to tell me what to do.
Had better learn to hit the manuals and be able to find answers
myself. Then he pointed at that 4-foot wide metal rack of System/38
manuals.

I try to instil that attitude in my programming students. When they
have difficulty with a Lab exercise I never give them the answer. I
always talk them through an analysis of the problem. My intention is
that they learn the sorts of questions I ask them about their code
and use that approach to resolve future problems. But sometimes it's
like drawing teeth--I once had a student who could not grasp if-then-
else constructs, 10 minutes class time plus 1/2 hour after class and
he still didn't get it. Was OK with if BLACK is WHITE stuff but as
soon as variables entered the equation (if colour is black) his brain
melted. Quite funny in a sadistic way--you could see the meltdown
occurring in his facial features. Simply not cut out to be a
programmer--better stay as an operator (which is what his job was).

Regards,
Simon Coulter.
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People can get just plain scary when they get into a position of
authority. One
example I unfortunately had to live through (assuming I actually have, as I
still have issues):

The DP Manager had weird "rules" of program structure. He demanded that
EXFMT
only be used once in a program. So, to work around that rule, another
programmer added an insane amount of code. I only vaguely recall how
convoluted
that stupid rule made a simple program. Same "boss" wrote a program with
four
IDENTICAL subroutines. Could not grasp the concept that a subroutine could
be
invoked from different points in a program. At that same place, another
programmer simply could not do a programming task if an exact example did
not
exist in her college textbook - which was a work in process written by the
class professor. Nobody there read any manuals at all. It was discouraged
by
the nitwit "manager". Wastes too much time. And, that was the day of the
printed manual. After I completed the upgrade from v2r2m1 to v2r2, the
"manager" ordered the first programmer to "help" me by updating the
manuals. That was accomplished by stuffing the still plastic wrapped
manuals (and the
wrapped update pages) into the appropriate binders.

John McKee