On 6/1/07, Mark Waser <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
OK, Russell, this is now officially out of control. If it takes you a
week to implement a piece of test code that runs in a harness for a given
algorithm then you shouldn't be developing software.
Actually it typically takes me a lot less time than that; I'm not the one
who picked the figure of a week. A week, however, is definitely nowhere near
enough to create a useful product.
Similarly, if creating software that does something useful typically takes
much more than six months of effort then you shouldn't be developing
software.
So you think the people who created products like Windows, Excel and Firefox
shouldn't be writing software? That's the sort of thing I'm talking about,
not little utilities or version 3 of your company's payroll program using
the same tools you used for versions 1 and 2. This is the frigging AGI list
we're having this conversation on, after all, not the "writing small
in-house scripting stuff" list.
Further, the reason why any first product typically has serious
limitations is because a) the implementer typically does not completely
understand the problem that he is trying to solve at the product's inception
and b) there is never time to go back and refactor and improve before the
product is rushed out the door. Your statement that "Progress depends on
having many products for any given way to solve a problem, each with
different tradeoffs and each competing with the others to encourage further
refinement" simply proves that even the *users* don't understand the
problem and the possibilities at the product's inception.
Yes, you have correctly identified some of the reasons software engineering
is a hard problem.
And that is waaay above the brute-force programming level where you're
apparently living.
Mark, if you're going to spend your time making up fantasies about people,
you'll probably have more fun picking someone prettier than me as your
subject ;)
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