> Polly, could you say some more about the goals for your evaluation--is > there a practical situation that drove your question, or was it just > curiosity?
I am curious about it, but I also have the practical goal of evaluating myself. I have worked as a programmer for 10 years and I am self-taught -- my degree is a Ph.D. in cognitive psycholgy and linguistics. I'm curious about whether formal education in CS has a big influence on software development ability. My own feeling is that programming involves mostly abstract verbal reasoning and organizing of information (I am not talking about mathematical programming, which of course requires mathematicial reasoning as well). I suspect that understandings of how computers work and of the basic types of data structures, and of several different languages, are also relevant. I wonder what other ingredients might be needed for a person to be considered a good programmer. I realize it's subjective and different programmers might be good or bad in different ways. I also think that motivation and patience are central factors. Polly > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > PPIG Discuss List ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > Discuss admin: http://limitlessmail.net/mailman/listinfo/discuss > Announce admin: http://limitlessmail.net/mailman/listinfo/announce > PPIG Discuss archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/discuss%40ppig.org/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PPIG Discuss List ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Discuss admin: http://limitlessmail.net/mailman/listinfo/discuss Announce admin: http://limitlessmail.net/mailman/listinfo/announce PPIG Discuss archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/discuss%40ppig.org/
