A Real Programmer Can Write in Any Language
This write-up by Dr. Robert B.K. Dewar and Dr. Edmond Schonberg makes me very happy. They are basically railing against the propensity that modern universities and colleges have towards forcing Java on first-time programmers instead of teaching them the foundations of quality software engineering. Most universities are ignoring the basics of how to actually get software to operate properly. Properly means keeping data and processes secure, functional, accurate, stable, and efficient.
Java may attempt to enforce some of these things, but by programming in Java, the person at the keyboard is not taught how to do these things. They take it for granted that their language will do it for them, and this is not always the case. It’s like not wearing a seatbelt because you assume your airbag will save your life.
One analogy that Dewar/Schonberg used was this:
“The irresistible beauty of programming consists in the reduction of complex formal processes to a very small set of primitive operations. Java, instead of exposing this beauty, encourages the programmer to approach problem-solving like a plumber in a hardware store: by rummaging through a multitude of drawers (i.e. packages) we will end up finding some gadget (i.e. class) that does roughly what we want. How it does it is not interesting! The result is a student who knows how to put a simple program together, but does not know how to program.”
Another quote from the write-up that really tickles me is this one, “Conversely, we want to say that a competent programmer is comfortable with a number of different languages and that the programmer must be able to use the mental tools favored by one of them, even when programming in another.” According to these guys, I’m a competent programmer. I’ve always been able to take my expertise in one language and translate it into usefulness in another language. I’d like to see a pure Java programmer claim the same thing.
I could rant on this for much, much longer, but I highly suggest that you click the link at the start of this blog to see more of what got me started. I agree with pretty much everything that they’ve written there.
