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- Path: gambier.ugrad.cs.ubc.ca!not-for-mail
- From: c2a192@ugrad.cs.ubc.ca (Kazimir Kylheku)
- Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.eiffel,comp.lang.c,comp.object,comp.software-eng
- Subject: Re: Beware of "C" Hackers -- A rebuttal to Bertrand Meyer
- Date: 15 Mar 1996 10:32:59 -0800
- Organization: Computer Science, University of B.C., Vancouver, B.C., Canada
- Message-ID: <4icd4rINNbnh@gambier.ugrad.cs.ubc.ca>
- References: <1995Jul3.034108.4193@rcmcon.com> <RMARTIN.96Mar13110714@rcm.oma.com> <4i862r$1evq@saba.info.ucla.edu> <RMARTIN.96Mar15105350@rcm.oma.com>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: gambier.ugrad.cs.ubc.ca
-
- In article <RMARTIN.96Mar15105350@rcm.oma.com>,
- Robert C. Martin <rmartin@oma.com> wrote:
- >In article <4i862r$1evq@saba.info.ucla.edu> jmartin@cs.ucla.edu (Jay Martin) writes:
- >
- > You have no studies to backup that Eiffel and C programmers are
- > magically identical so this is just a red herring.
- >
- >And you have no studies either, so your statements are just as red
- >and hairy as mine. ;)
- >
- > Competent software engineers
- > are not hackers. Hackers do not like the restrictiveness of an
- > Eiffel or an Ada or any other software engineering language, thus
- > these languages are not likely to attract hackers. C is
- > unrestrictive and attracts hackers in droves.
- >
- >I have been working with C programmers for the last 16 years. I have
- >not encountered this phenomemon.
- >
- > I have never worked
- > with an Eiffel programmer, but given an Eiffel programmer spouting
- > high level design and implementation concepts and a C programmer who
- > says "I use pointer arithmetic cuz it may be faster, I don't trust no
- > compilers" and "I write terse code all on my line cuz its cool like
- > mathematics and gee, I is a mathematical genius or something",
- > the Eiffel programmer is basically going to get the job.
- >
- >The above clearly demonstrates that you have an "attitude" towards C
- >programmers. That attitude is unwarranted. There may indeed be C programmers
- >who act as you have described. Let me assure you, however, that there
- >are also large numbers of C/C++ programmers who do not share that
- >attitude.
-
- This is just a side effect of the overwhelming popularity of these languages.
- Since these languages are popular, and since there are many job opportunities
- which call for C/C++ programming, a lot of wannabee idiots are attracted toward
- learning these languages. You aren't going to see some lame-ass wannabee
- touting his knowledge of Ada or Modula-2, because these things are not "KEWL",
- or "K-RAD". After all, Doom was written in C, dood!
-
- If you hire programmers with appropriate _qualifications_ other than some
- ad-hoc knowledge of of a programming language, you should be OK.
-
- It's easy for some language bigots forget that program design is a discipline
- that is far more than a mere knowledge of a particular language.
-
- I'd say that someone who insists on disparaging a particular language is just
- as clueless as those wannabees. A job advertisement that inflexibly calls for
- knowledge of a particular programming language instead of real software
- engineering qualifications is usually a warning sign to stay away.
- --
-
-