I think luu is underestimating Mr Dijkstra - this one essay has more nuggets than Mcdonalds...
I prefer to describe it the other way round: the program is an abstract symbol manipulator, which can be turned into a concrete one by supplying a computer to it.
if we wish to count lines of code, we should not regard them as "lines produced" but as "lines spent"
As economics is known as "The Miserable Science", software engineering should be known as "The Doomed Discipline"
and so on.
You can happily read most of the current problems we face in the Doomed Discipline laid out 30 years ago.
In the end, reading honest thinking from people orders more intelligent than yourself always inspires something.
Comments
I think luu is underestimating Mr Dijkstra - this one essay has more nuggets than Mcdonalds...
I prefer to describe it the other way round: the program is an abstract symbol manipulator, which can be turned into a concrete one by supplying a computer to it.
if we wish to count lines of code, we should not regard them as "lines produced" but as "lines spent"
As economics is known as "The Miserable Science", software engineering should be known as "The Doomed Discipline"
and so on.
You can happily read most of the current problems we face in the Doomed Discipline laid out 30 years ago.
In the end, reading honest thinking from people orders more intelligent than yourself always inspires something.