No subject

good and bad for it.  If you sat in the doctor's office, and shoved a
pencil into your eardum, the doctor would be perfectly right in saying "Don't
do that".  Anyhow...

I think you've got the wrong crux of the discussion here.  People need to know
how to program so they can modify their computing enviroment to their needs. 
People need to be able to edit batch files, write scripts for their email
client.  Look at the simplicity of perl, how two or three lines of perl code
can do hours and HOURS of work that would be done by hand, for applications
that no one else has designed.  This isn't repairing a car, this is checking
the oil, this is adding washer fluid when your car runs out.  This is the level
of programming knowledge that the public needs.  Not the 1000 man hour
programming project knowledge, but the sort of knowledge that everyone will
need to manipulate their tools *every day* the use them.

Would you want someone who knows how to use a drill unable to change the drill
bit?  This doesn't mean they can build a drill, but they need to know how to
change the tool to their needs. 

> 
>       I think we all agree that it would be good if the whole world
> suddenly had the knowledge of how to program, but why bother.  I don't
> expect my mechanic to know how to call a UNIX socket, and he doesn't
> expect me to know about how to put together a hydraulic brake system.  
> But when my car breaks down, he fixes it, and when his network breaks, I
> fix it.  I'm going to say this again.  A PC is just a tool.  A finicky,
> badly designed, badly slapped together, unreliable tool.  I look forward
> to the day that my job as a Systems Administrator becomes obsolete,
> because computers just work.  You're a programmer, and that's your talent.  
> Let others have their own talents, without trying to shove yours down
> their throat.
> 

Once again, no one expects the entire planet to be able to write an operating
system.  There are level of complexity to everything, and programming ability
is the same way.

People should at least be able to do the equivilant of reading stop signs, and
writing thank you letters to me, their leader.

*Opps*.. where did that sneak in from ;)




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