On Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 6:52 PM, Stut <stuttle@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On 27 Feb 2008, at 23:25, Jochem Maas wrote:
> > Stut schreef:
>
> I DID NOT!! It was him! I only schreef in private!
Sure, blame it on me....
> I'm not knocking those who don't apply software engineering principals
> to their development - they have their place and the vast majority of
> PHP-based websites can be successfully implemented from that point of
> view. However, I tend to work on large web-based applications rather
> than "simple" sites, and in my world applying software engineering
> principals helps to ensure the sites are structurally sound,
> maintainable and performant (which Apple Mail thinks should be
> "perform ant", love it!).
Coincidentally, I just informed Jochem about ten minutes ago that
my spell-checker extension in Firefox (probably Aspell-based, since it
recognizes the word "Aspell") considers the word "ain't" to be
correct. Unfortunately, what should be a positive (and thus proper
opposite), "ain" - which I conjecture should be the redneck equivalent
of "is" - does not exist in the lexicon.... but I digress.
> I would never hire a developer who blindly implements a solution
> without thinking about what they're doing. I know I'm not perfect, I
> know I make mistakes, and on occasion they have cost an embarrassing
> amount of money to fix. I'm also fully aware that other people have
> insights that would never occur to me. If I'm farming out work to code
> monkeys I need them to sanity check my solution and challenge me if
> they think something's wrong or they think the have a better solution.
I don't mind people telling me I've done something wrong or not as
well as I should have. Sure, I've been pounding keyboards for many
moons, but even Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Richard Lynch will all
agree that a second set of eyes and another brain will offer better
insight and help teach an aged canine new alternatives to
mysql_fetch_assoc(). ;-P
> It's worth noting that I've asked the same question to more than a few
> interviewees for traditional C/C++ roles, and I never came across one
> that couldn't do it which I find quite interesting.
Never came across one who *could* or *could not*? Just checking
for typos here. If that's typed correctly, it's certainly worth
noting. I'd envision more people attempting to reverse the order or,
as Shawn did earlier, doing the equivalent of PHP's array_flip().
> Incidentally, the same distinction between engineers and developers
> applies here too, it's certainly not specific to web development.
And while it hasn't been said otherwise, I also consider this
worth noting - especially for new PHP programmers who are afraid of
looking like fools when asking questions to further their knowledge or
don't consider their grasp of the language good enough to keep
learning:
Just because you don't know every function in the PHP manual
doesn't mean you're not going to be a good programmer. That's why the
manual is there. That's why this list is here. I learn a new
function every week (not on purpose, but I did write a script to do a
random one daily and just never used it) that I never before knew.
For example: array_reverse() and array_flip(). I had been writing my
own functions to handle similar operations. Now, when I need
something in the future, I'll remember the functions and employ them.
And if/when I'm granted the time and opportunity, I'll update the
function files that use those routines and make them a bit more
economical.
--
</Dan>
Daniel P. Brown
Senior Unix Geek
<? while(1) { $me = $mind--; sleep(86400); } ?>
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