[aklug] Re: AKLUG and others

From: Scott A. Johnson <scott.a.johnson@gmail.com>
Date: Fri Mar 05 2010 - 07:46:45 AKST

It's been a while since I've seen a thread on the lug get 27 deep. I'm
impressed. That and I wanted to be a part of this for the archives. Ha ha!
:)
Scott

On Fri, Mar 5, 2010 at 07:36, Royce Williams <royce@alaska.net> wrote:

> Shane Spencer said, on 03/05/2010 07:22 AM:
> > On Thu, Mar 4, 2010 at 11:23 PM, Christopher Howard <choward@indicium.us>
> wrote:
> >> I'd go so far to say: if you took just about any energetic,
> >> self-motivated young programmer, put him in a house with an Internet
> >> connection, and gave him the financial means to do nothing but study
> >> programming on his own for four years, he would become a programming
> >> genius and make any UAF CS graduate look like a drop-out script-kiddie.
> >> And heck, I wouldn't mind trying that myself, but unfortunately I have
> >> not yet found a backer. So I learn what I can in my spare time (a.k.a.,
> >> breaks from my regular homework.)
>
> I've seen the code generated by self-taught "programming geniuses" who
> have spent years coding without realizing that programming is for human
> readability, that cleverness is the enemy of maintainability, and that
> the perfect is the enemy of the good.
>
> Give somebody an interesting problem to solve (or help them to think of
> one of their own. Ground them in some basic best practices.
> Occasionally point out ways to make the code more clear or more efficient.
>
> But don't grow them in a vacuum. Even the ones with native clue will
> waste a lot of time reinventing many, many wheels. A little "doing it
> the hard way" is educational, and writing Yet Another Templating Enging
> for PHP may also teach you a few things ... but a little initial
> guidance and some true mentoring can really jump-start someone's
> programmer-fu enlightenment.
>
> Some of that homework is trying to tell you this. While some of it does
> a better job than others, it's like finding out at 25 that your dad is
> smarter than you thought he was when you were 15. :-)
>
> Don't get me wrong; some CS can be bad, especially in the hands of bad
> instructors. But there are also some giants on whose shoulders you can
> stand if you can peer through the occasional curriculum cruft to
> recognize the opportunity when you see it.
>
> Royce
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>

-- 
Scott A. Johnson
scott.a.johnson@gmail.com
http://scojo.us
mobile: +1.907.240.2483
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Received on Fri Mar 5 07:47:16 2010

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