Comments for Psychology of Programming http://p.einarsen.no Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:47:06 +0100 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 Comment on Does code base structure follow organization structure? by Trevor http://p.einarsen.no/does-code-base-structure-follow-organization-structure/comment-page-1/#comment-1169 Trevor Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:47:06 +0000 http://p.einarsen.no/does-code-base-structure-follow-organization-structure/#comment-1169 Well, organization and code structure could be similar if the people creating the organization's hierarchy are also the same kind of people doing the employing, or at least managing the things that determine whether employees stay with the organization or leave. The chances are, though, that at any time there will be a mix of employees at least to some extent trying to reproduce the type of code structure in which they believe. Whether this would be a good or bad thing, in my opinion, is whether the customer can accept the product. Even though most of the code might be transparent to the customer, when it comes time to talk about new features one might find that a hierarchically structured code lacks the flexibility to match the changing needs of a customer with a more flat structured organization. And vice versa. In terms of business success as a supplier, it might be worth having on board people capable of understanding the essential need in people for hierarchical, or flat, structures so that the code produced does not lock out the other type of structure. Well, organization and code structure could be similar if the people creating the organization’s hierarchy are also the same kind of people doing the employing, or at least managing the things that determine whether employees stay with the organization or leave. The chances are, though, that at any time there will be a mix of employees at least to some extent trying to reproduce the type of code structure in which they believe.

Whether this would be a good or bad thing, in my opinion, is whether the customer can accept the product. Even though most of the code might be transparent to the customer, when it comes time to talk about new features one might find that a hierarchically structured code lacks the flexibility to match the changing needs of a customer with a more flat structured organization. And vice versa. In terms of business success as a supplier, it might be worth having on board people capable of understanding the essential need in people for hierarchical, or flat, structures so that the code produced does not lock out the other type of structure.

]]> Comment on Accelerate your Perl learning 2: From novice to adept by Trevor http://p.einarsen.no/accelerate-your-perl-learning-2-from-novice-to-adept/comment-page-1/#comment-1168 Trevor Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:12:02 +0000 http://p.einarsen.no/?p=324#comment-1168 I would say that studying the documentation is one way to get to the next level, but only if your brain is wired that way that you can absorb vast quantities of data. When I learn a new computer language I first read half a book on the language, play around to make sure I am able to reproduce the grammar well enough to get it to work, and then use Google and assume that something probably exists that does the kind of think I want to do. This may produce the answer I need, or it may not and in which case I either learn why not or find no answer. If I discover why something does not work, I rework my concept of the language, while if I find no answer I am probably attempting something new and this may either be a good or bad thing, it might lead to success or having to find another concept to deal with whatever I am attempting to do. The point is that I am not a specialist in a single subject, my skills are not high craft in programming, but I do use programming well enough to demonstrate where a design should be going. Therefore, is a good programmer one with excellent code skills or one with excellent code conceptual design skills? Are all programmers able to deploy both skill types equally well, and do they need to? My point is that we might find that the code-skill programmer will progress successfully through the documentation, while the conceptual design programmer may use it as little more than a refined lucky dip. For the latter, a good resource may be nothing more than a piece of information that opens a doorway, and this information might come from anywhere, any field, any discipline. I would say that studying the documentation is one way to get to the next level, but only if your brain is wired that way that you can absorb vast quantities of data. When I learn a new computer language I first read half a book on the language, play around to make sure I am able to reproduce the grammar well enough to get it to work, and then use Google and assume that something probably exists that does the kind of think I want to do. This may produce the answer I need, or it may not and in which case I either learn why not or find no answer. If I discover why something does not work, I rework my concept of the language, while if I find no answer I am probably attempting something new and this may either be a good or bad thing, it might lead to success or having to find another concept to deal with whatever I am attempting to do.
The point is that I am not a specialist in a single subject, my skills are not high craft in programming, but I do use programming well enough to demonstrate where a design should be going. Therefore, is a good programmer one with excellent code skills or one with excellent code conceptual design skills? Are all programmers able to deploy both skill types equally well, and do they need to?
My point is that we might find that the code-skill programmer will progress successfully through the documentation, while the conceptual design programmer may use it as little more than a refined lucky dip. For the latter, a good resource may be nothing more than a piece of information that opens a doorway, and this information might come from anywhere, any field, any discipline.

]]> Comment on Objects and your brain: Why do we love object-oriented programming so? by Radian Programming Language » Blog Archive » Verb- versus noun-based models in cognitive psychology http://p.einarsen.no/objects-and-your-brain-why-do-we-love-object-oriented-programming-so/comment-page-1/#comment-1162 Radian Programming Language » Blog Archive » Verb- versus noun-based models in cognitive psychology Thu, 26 Nov 2009 21:59:13 +0000 http://p.einarsen.no/?p=140#comment-1162 [...] the blog Psychology of Programming, these excerpts from a 1995 paper on object-oriented programming published in Human-Computer Interaction have some fascinating comments from cognitive psychology [...] [...] the blog Psychology of Programming, these excerpts from a 1995 paper on object-oriented programming published in Human-Computer Interaction have some fascinating comments from cognitive psychology [...]

]]> Comment on Accelerate your Perl learning by Accelerate your Perl learning 2: From novice to adept | Psychology of Programming http://p.einarsen.no/accelerate-your-perl-learning/comment-page-1/#comment-1158 Accelerate your Perl learning 2: From novice to adept | Psychology of Programming Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:40:22 +0000 http://p.einarsen.no/?p=183#comment-1158 [...] stated in an article some time back that a challenge in learning is that the knowledge setting experts apart from novices isn’t explicitly known by either [...] [...] stated in an article some time back that a challenge in learning is that the knowledge setting experts apart from novices isn’t explicitly known by either [...]

]]> Comment on The Great Perl Comeback? by steve http://p.einarsen.no/the-great-perl-comeback/comment-page-1/#comment-1154 steve Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:05:10 +0000 http://p.einarsen.no/?p=315#comment-1154 I would like to interview some of the Perl programmers from the 1800's from the graph! Since that's quite improbable, it's quite probable that they're immortal hackers with PDP-11 beards! I would like to interview some of the Perl programmers from the 1800’s from the graph! Since that’s quite improbable, it’s quite probable that they’re immortal hackers with PDP-11 beards!

]]> Comment on The Great Perl Comeback? by Alexandr Ciornii http://p.einarsen.no/the-great-perl-comeback/comment-page-1/#comment-1152 Alexandr Ciornii Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:45:53 +0000 http://p.einarsen.no/?p=315#comment-1152 I would not call it comeback - Perl was never on decline. Relatively to other languages - yes, but absolutely - never. Absolute numbers raise every year (except from late 2008, where all languages started to decline). I would not call it comeback – Perl was never on decline. Relatively to other languages – yes, but absolutely – never. Absolute numbers raise every year (except from late 2008, where all languages started to decline).

]]> Comment on The Great Perl Comeback? by john napiorkowski http://p.einarsen.no/the-great-perl-comeback/comment-page-1/#comment-1151 john napiorkowski Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:50:49 +0000 http://p.einarsen.no/?p=315#comment-1151 I'm not sure if the Japan originated searches are related to outsourcing. Perl is really big in Japan it seems. Quite a few Ironman blogs are Japanese for example. The India trend is a tough one to figure. Could be outsourcing, but that's not necessarily an indication of new development. I’m not sure if the Japan originated searches are related to outsourcing. Perl is really big in Japan it seems. Quite a few Ironman blogs are Japanese for example. The India trend is a tough one to figure. Could be outsourcing, but that’s not necessarily an indication of new development.

]]> Comment on The Great Perl Comeback? by brunov http://p.einarsen.no/the-great-perl-comeback/comment-page-1/#comment-1148 brunov Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:33:09 +0000 http://p.einarsen.no/?p=315#comment-1148 @admin you are right, I hadn't looked... I wonder whether one could suppose that the rate of change of the false-positive is constant, so that one could still look at language trends. Probably not! On another note, I noticed that most of the locations from where the 'perl' searches are from are India and Japan. Outsourcing much? @admin you are right, I hadn’t looked… I wonder whether one could suppose that the rate of change of the false-positive is constant, so that one could still look at language trends. Probably not!

On another note, I noticed that most of the locations from where the ‘perl’ searches are from are India and Japan. Outsourcing much?

]]> Comment on The Great Perl Comeback? by admin http://p.einarsen.no/the-great-perl-comeback/comment-page-1/#comment-1147 admin Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:03:34 +0000 http://p.einarsen.no/?p=315#comment-1147 @brunov: Look at the example pages Google suggests for Python and Ruby: "23-foot python found basking in sun", "Former Olympic champion Ruby dies in climbing fall". I think the other dynamic language graphs are too full of non-programming searches to be useful for comparison. @brunov: Look at the example pages Google suggests for Python and Ruby: “23-foot python found basking in sun”, “Former Olympic champion Ruby dies in climbing fall”. I think the other dynamic language graphs are too full of non-programming searches to be useful for comparison.

]]> Comment on The Great Perl Comeback? by Steven Haryanto http://p.einarsen.no/the-great-perl-comeback/comment-page-1/#comment-1146 Steven Haryanto Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:01:34 +0000 http://p.einarsen.no/?p=315#comment-1146 Interesting. The terms "perl5" and "perl6" don't follow the similar pattern, but "cpan" and "rakudo" do. Go figure :-) Interesting. The terms “perl5″ and “perl6″ don’t follow the similar pattern, but “cpan” and “rakudo” do. Go figure :-)

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