[ale] OT: more info on where all the jobs are (going...)

[Geoffrey]

J.M. Taylor wrote:
> Geoffrey said:
> 
>>I've been on the
>>receiving end of software produced overseas as well as by contractors
>>who can't even verbally communicate.  The code works, but sucks.  It's
>>not well written, it's not documented (if they don't have a command of
>>the language, they can't speak OR write it).
> 
> 
> How many IT managers do *you* know that can tell a well-written and
> working program from one that is shite and unmaintainable, but working? 

Where did I say anything about managers reading code???  When you get 
into complex systems, where more then one person is using the same code, 
readability is crucial.  Further, any programmer worth their salt is not 
going to stay in one position forever, they are going to grow and move 
on.  In my 15+ years of working in software development with AT&T, I've 
been with 5 different organizations, with responsibilities that span 
system admin, web dev., training, technical manager, C programming, 
scripting, perl, java, javascript, Unix, Linux, Windows.... When people 
move on, someone will have to pick up where that person left off.

> How many US programmers comment or document their code vs just hacking it
> together to meet deadlines?  The offshore coders may be perfectly
> competent when they're not being pushed to churn out whatever crap they
> can as fast as they can, just as US coders might....

I find very few programmers ANYWHERE document or comment code 
sufficiently.  I will say that my experiences with contract programmers 
who are not native speakers of the english language write the worst code 
I've ever seen.  Again, folks will say I'm prejudice, but to be 
prejudice, means to prejudge, which is not the case.  This is based on 
real experiences.

The issue with documenting code has been around forever.  People claim 
they don't have time to comment their code.  If you comment the code as 
you write it, it does not add a major amount of effort or time to the 
project.  Further, the comments must be useful.  Things like:


/* assign 1 to foo */

foo=1;


Just don't get it, and I see that all the time.


-- 
Until later: Geoffrey		esoteric at 3times25.net

The latest, most widespread virus?  Microsoft end user agreement.
Think about it...

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