On Thu, Jul 26, 2001 at 09:33:09PM -0400, R.G. Mayhue wrote:
> On Thursday 26 July 2001 05:54 pm, Ross Fogleman wrote:
> >
> > Paul M Foster wrote:
> >
> > <snip>
> >
> > > I agree, but you can absolutely count on truckloads of brain-dead
> > > luser applications from this. If I were hiring programmers, I'd
> > > sit 'em down in front of vi/jed/emacs and make them prove to me
> > > they could really program, not drag/drop.
> >
> > <snip>
> >
> > I think this whole view of having people prove that they can
> > "program" by learning obscure and user-hostile applications (*ahem*
> > vi) is BS. Calling it masochism would be putting it in its best
> > light.
> >
> [snip]
>
> I think what Paul was trying to say here is that there are many
> programmers that learn and become completely dependent on a RAD
> environment to write code. So dependent that they never really learn
> how to write any code outside of that environment because so much of
> the "Dirty Work" is done for them. Take that RAD environment away and
> they simply cannot write a program because core elements such as
> event loops and error trapping are done for them in the background.
> When you drag/drop a button onto a form and the RAD system inserts
> the "click event" into the editor all you need to do is insert some
> code between the lines to handle the event......well......Ok....but
> what lead up to that event? They never learn that part.
>
> While I agree that using a good RAD environment can be very efficient
> (time wise maybe) and even fun in some cases, there is really no
> substitute for the experience gained by writing code "from scratch"
> in a text editor and compiling from the command line.
>
> Paul's little test would be a test to see if the programmer could
> actually write a simple program without the help of a RAD system.
>
> I must clarify something here. There is a BIG difference between a
> complete RAD development system and a programmers IDE. Although I
> have never used the "PHP Coder Pro!" you spoke of I would be willing
> to bet that it is more of a programmers IDE then a RAD environment
> for PHP.
>
> I have used many IDE's and several RAD systems and a lot of simple
> text editors and I must say I would choose a nice programmers editor
> over a simple text editor!
>
> Don't get me wrong. A RAD system certainly has its place in any good
> programmers bag of tricks as well as a good IDE any other tools that
> make his coding faster and more efficient.
>
> Its kind of like this.......
>
> The difference between using a RAD environment and using a text
> editor is kind of like the difference between painting by numbers
> and.....well......painting!
>
Well, I was gonna clarify, but Rob hit the nail on the head. (BTW, I
never said I _liked_ vi. I use Jed. Vi? Brrrr.) ;-}
Paul
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.3 : Fri Aug 01 2014 - 17:02:22 EDT