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000078_icon-group-sender _Mon Mar 2 16:43:54 1998.msg
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Received: from kingfisher.CS.Arizona.EDU (kingfisher.CS.Arizona.EDU [192.12.69.239])
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for <icon-group-addresses@baskerville.CS.Arizona.EDU>; Mon, 2 Mar 1998 16:43:54 -0700 (MST)
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From: gep2@computek.net
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 1998 02:42:55 -0600
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Subject: Re: icon questions
To: icon-group@optima.CS.Arizona.EDU
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> As one who manages programmers, I heartly agree that programmer time is
what really costs you.
Absolutely. It came as rather a shock to one client (and this was already about
4 years ago) when I pointed out that ONE EXTRA DAY of programmer time (debugging
a more complicated TSR they thought they wanted) would cost them almost as much
as a second computer, which kept the system and programming simpler.
> Not only are programmers expensive, it so happens
that if they are wasted doing something useless, they are not programming
the next project you have for them.
Absolutely. The biggest problem with most of the programs you need is that you
don't have them!!!! And don't have time to write enough of them, using
traditional programming techniques.
> However, this is no reason to produce sloppy code... In the majority of
the cases I see of sloppy/slow/unelegant code, the reason isn't that the
solution was really cheaper in man-hours. It means simply that the man is
not a great programmer.
Agreed that "good" programmers are usually a good investment.
But the fact remains that it takes more time to write tight, efficient code, and
many companies really don't want to pay what that time costs. Whether by a good
programmer, or even a bad one.
> In some cases (for example onetime scripts, higly clever algorithms etc.)
dealling with all the low level stuff (such as type conversions) is a
waste of time.
Right.
> But even in such cases, the compiler should be able to optimize most of
the trivial performence problems. Unnneded (obvious) conversions are an
example.
> The sad thing about optimization, is that it is never a replacement for a
good programmer, and a good algotrithm.
I highly optimized BAD algorithm will usually be nowhere near as fast as a
REALLY SLOPPY-IMPLEMENTED good algorithm.
Gordon Peterson
http://www.computek.net/public/gep2/
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