[ale] Any language (wuz: Assembly Language?)

[Ron Frazier (ALE)]

"Michael B. Trausch" <mbt at naunetcorp.com> wrote:

>On 10/27/2013 11:26 AM, Leam Hall wrote:
>> Be the one that folks know "Hey, he does {web/os/financial/db} 
>> programming and we need something done." If you build your reputation
>
>> in a certain domain then your ability to find work in that domain 
>> becomes easier. There are millions of programming tasks that need 
>> doing and a lot of them are funded. It becomes a matter of building 
>> your cred and finding those tasks you are suited for. 
>
>To take this one step further:  Ignore programming languages 
>/completely/ and be a /programmer/.
>
>What I mean by that is analgous to what some people mean by the 
>difference between "writing in a language" and "programming into a 
>langauge".
>
>Anyone can write straight and unmaintainable code in any language.
>
>Anyone can write elegant and maintainable code in (nearly) any
>language, 
>assuming that the language is reasonable enough.
>
>Anyone can fix things like PHP's problems by doing it differently. 
>Facebook attempted to do so though they opted out of that and went for 
>(yet another) VM approach instead.
>
>If you know any three programming languages well, you can learn any 
>other programming language pretty easily, discounting the standard 
>library for that language (or environment).  Those aren't typically too
>
>hard to learn, though, as they all pretty much expose the same types of
>
>functionality.
>
>If you can write an algorithm in C, and write that same algorithm in 
>Python, BASIC or JavaScript, then you're a programmer and language no 
>longer is relevant---the knowledge that you have in the domain of 
>programming and the knowledge that you have in the real problem domain 
>reigns supreme.
>
>But the key here is that you need to know all the cogs in the system 
>that you're working with.
>
>When someone asks me if I'll take a project to implement $FOO, I tell 
>them that I will get back to them on that if it is a $FOO that I'm not 
>familiar with.  I take a week or two, depending on how long is required
>
>for me to do so, and then tell them if (a) I can take it, (b) I won't 
>take it, or (c) I need more time.  Why?  Because everyone comes to me 
>with different problems---sometimes /very/ different problems---and I 
>refuse to take on work that would be better performed by someone else. 
>
>*shrug*
>
>     --- Mike
>
>-- 
>
>	Michael B. Trausch
>
>President, *Naunet Corporation*
>? (678) 287-0693 x130 or (855) NAUNET-1 x130
>FAX: (678) 783-7843
>
>


Hi all,

I agree with the premise of just be a programmer.  I've long said to anyone who wanted to discuss my resume that I can potentially write an app in any desired language.  I can learn any desired language that they've chosen for business reasons to write the app in, given a bit of time and resources to get over the learning curve.  The algorithm is the key.  Understanding the problem at hand is the key.  And, determining the best way to solve the problem is the key.  Another way to say that is: I can flowchart the problem you want me to solve without using ANY computer language.

Of course, convincing someone to pay you to get all that done is another matter.

I have never known and used more than 1 grammatical language at a time, English.  I took Spanish in high school, but didn't feel really fluent in it.

I have never known and used more than 1 computer language at a time.  What that was varied depending on the time.  But, it seems to me that being fluent, and not confused, in more than 1 at a time would be very hard.  I cannot really imagine being productive in Clipper, C++, and Go all at the same time, for example.

Sincerely,

Ron



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Ron Frazier
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