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From: Terry Lambert <terry@cs.weber.edu>
Subject: Re: Linux thoroughly insulted by Infoworld!
Organization: Utah Valley State College, Orem, Utah
Date: Fri, 27 Jan 1995 16:48:16 GMT
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henryh@well.sf.ca.us (Henry Hwong) wrote:
] Not all people can just curl up with a manual and understand it. If
] anything, classes give people a head start and give access to a person
] who happens to know about it.
I have to take exception here. A lot of what I do as a programmer
is demonstrate a learned skill; but I am not *only* a skilled worker.
According to the department of Labor, who rates me as an exempt
employee, what I (and you, if you are a software engineer) do is
more than 50% creative.
And I have to argue that not everyone can learn every skill, and not
everyone can *be* creative.
The ability to curl up with a manual an understand it is an intrinsic
part of what makes me good at what I do, and, I think, an intrinsic
part of what makes other people in this field good at what they do.
The universe is not egalitarian. Welcome to the universe.
Sorry to go off like this, but I find this offensive in the same
way I that I find MIS managers turning to things like Visual BASIC
and AppWare offensive, the same way I find EE's with no programming
experience writing BIOS code for video and SCSI cards offensive.
] Now, I guess my experience in classes has been a little different. The
] classes we send our client people are taught by people who know what they
] are talking about. If you haven't been to those, I'm sorry to hear that.
] However, I don't think it's fair to condemn all training for your experience.
I agree with this statement; however, there is a lot of truth to
the adage that a computer consultant/trainer is anyone who is out
of work when you find you need a consultant/trainer.
] And who says you need Stevens or Allman to teach classes? Do you need
] Shakesphere to teach you about English literature? Do you need Oppenheimer
] to teach nuclear physics?
Do you need Plato, Socrates, or Aristotle to teach philsophy?
Actually, those three were renouned teachers, and what they taught
has survived to today largely because of their ability to teach.
You don't *need* these people to teach you directly, of course, but
if you can get them, the experience is *vastly* superior to getting
the information second-hand. People qualified in these fields will
be using the teachings of these people in their classes if they are
any good themselves. Just as in the game "gossip", an idea that
passes through many hands after leaving its source can be twisted
in the teaching. As long as Stevens, Allman, et al. are available,
they should be utilized in favor of anyone else who happens to be
expounding their ideas.
Terry Lambert
terry@cs.weber.edu
---
Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present
or previous employers.