I started this blog to comment about computers, their use and misuse, and the joy and pain of programming them. However, I seem to use it for commenting on everything else except computers! Today, I would like to get back to them. And, since I am at the office on a Saturday with an enormous pile of work to do, it seems the ideal time to add a blog entry.
For the first half of my adult life, before I began teaching college, I was a computer programmer. Today, they call them software engineers, or software developers. It's the same thing, just a nicer title. In my new job, I actually teach software engineering, which I had not (for no particular reason) at my old job. In the process, of course, I must constantly bring myself up to date on the latest trends, tricks, and techniques.
I just got through developing my software engineering lecture for Monday, and I must comment that I am delighted with many of the new trends. These youngsters in their 30s and 40s are discovering through research the truths I knew from hard experience, but now they have fancier names and an air of legitimacy. When I proposed them, back in the day, they were laughed at. Now they are modern and trendy. Cool!
One example: the value of a program well structured. I had a boss once that delighted in the "quick and dirty" and scofffed at the idea that a program needed to be well structured. I remember trying to maintain a one-off program he threw together, badly designed, and therefore every time we added a feature we broke an old one. Finally, one of us threw it out and rewrote it in a more structured, sensible manner, and it was amazing how the angry calls from the user disappeared.
Much to my delight, this process is today called "refactoring" and is a recognized step in one of the newer software engineering processes. I love people that agree with me. I think they are so smart!
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