Humor: The Evolution of a Programmer

[bscott at ntisys.com]

On Wed, 13 Nov 2002, at 5:08pm, sconce at in-spec-inc.com wrote:
> It is OFTEN easier in Python to try it than to guess.
> (Also, easier to try it than to RTFM...  :) 

  While I agree with you, it is with some trepidation.  Learning a system
without learning the hows and whys behind it can lead to "cargo cult
programming", where the programmer does something completely unneeded (or
outright wrong), because he or she doesn't understand what he is *really*
doing.

  Put more succinctly: Exploration is fine, but serious programming should
be backed up by serious knowledge.

  I say this only because I see the negative effects in action so often.

-- 
Ben Scott <bscott at ntisys.com>
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