[Coco] Perl PL for OS/9

[Steven Hirsch]

On Mon, 31 Aug 2009, Aaron Wolfe wrote:

>> Alan Turing established that there IS only one language for computing
>> machinery.  The rest is all syntax variations :-).
>>
>> Seriously if you spend some of that valuable time studying the formalisms of
>> computer science you'll quickly realize that languages all look much the
>> same at a certain level.
>>
>> <editorial>
>>
>> This is why I'm so amused when I see HR-authored job descriptions that
>> stress "N years of experience in Turbo-Foobar, Java, you-name-it" rather
>> than simply looking for those with a grounding in the principles of
>> computation and language translators.
>>
>> If you learn Perl, you'll hopefully be able to find work as a Perl
>> programmer.  If you learn the fundamentals (including study of
>> non-traditional syntax variations like, e.g. LISP, Forth, etc.) you should
>> be able to function in almost any environment after a short ramp-up.
>>
>> </editorial>
>
> I've got mixed feelings about that.  Yes, a programmer who is well
> versed in fundamental concepts is always better than one who is not.
> However, modern programming environments are much more complex than
> the ones taught when I was in school.  The difference between c,
> pascal, and fortan are minor compared to Java vs asp.net vs lamp, etc.
> Mastery of these environments takes much more than an understanding
> of core concepts, mainly because a modern programmer is going to use a
> lot of complicated libraries all with their own nuances.  Knowing the
> strengths and weaknesses of all the various parts (and how to use
> these in real world situations) takes time and real world experience.
> The ideal candidate will have both strong fundamental skills *and*
> language specific experience :)

Absolutely.  I was being pedantic :-).  But, having good theoretical 
underpinnings and scientific reasoning skills (could be from another 
engineering discipline, e.g. EE) will make acquisition of the 
language-specific skills far easier.

Some of this opinion comes from my own background.  I spent my first 11 
years in the field as a completely self-taught coder.  Managed to learn 
assembly language for a number of CPUs and earned a significant amount of 
money along the way doing contract work for Applied Engineering (Apple 2 
peripheral manufacturer).  However, when I finally bit the bullet and went 
back to college for a BS/CS degree (and later a masters) the experience 
was an incredible eye-opener.  Not only was I more employable with a 
diploma on the wall, but the breadth of ideas presented really opened my 
brain up and completely changed the way I look at problems.

Incredibly enough, all the things "they" say about higher education really 
did turn to be true :-).  I should have listened closer when I was young, 
but better late than never!

Steve


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