The Master, The Expert, The Programmer

http://www.zedshaw.com/essays/master_and_expert.html

by jamongkad • 19 years ago

20 5 19 years ago

dhouston• 19 years ago

great article; the piece about the phase most developers go through where they like complexity for complexity's sake definitely resonated (or fancy algorithms, or design patterns, or whatever other programming-related book they just read.) if you've worked with developers like this (or gone through these phases ;)), you probably had flashbacks too -- wading through AbstractVisitorManagerDelegate classes, or half-baked home-grown heap allocators makes a little part of me die inside.

jamongkad• 19 years ago

I know I did hehe...I still fall back into that pattern from time to time. But wake up calls in the form of unmanageable code keeps me back in line.

nonrecursive• 19 years ago

Zed Shaw must be the coolest programmer in the universe

palish• 19 years ago

Wow. That's one of the best pieces of writing I've read. It paints wonderfully vivid pictures and tells succinct stories.

I went through a templating phase once. Everything I wrote in C++ had to be a template. Every policy decision needed to be made at compile-time, and a pointer was never used in favor of a smart container. I finally realized the simple truth that you don't need to include a header file to use a float pointer.

ragav• 19 years ago

When I started programming I would go with the simplest solution I could because I was ignorant of any other way . Now I go with the simplest solution I can because I know the other ways

If I hadn't gone the other ways I would never have learnt to appreciate the simple solutions. I just wish it was a faster proces ;-)

The Master, The Expert, The Programmer

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