From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.5-pre1 (2020-06-20) on ip-172-31-74-118.ec2.internal X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.0 required=3.0 tests=BAYES_40 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.5-pre1 Date: 9 Apr 93 15:02:23 GMT From: howland.reston.ans.net!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!milano!pho ton.mcc.com!breland@gatech.edu (Mark A. Breland) Subject: Re: Software Engineering vs. Hacking (was Re: Message-ID: <1993Apr9.150223.13365@mcc.com> List-Id: In article 93Apr5112034@spectre.mitre.org, eachus@spectre.mitre.org (Robert I. Eachus) writes: > > I used to be a hacker, now I am a software engineer... >ROBUSTNESS and quality are not the terms I would use to describe code >written by hackers. The hacker concept of quality emphasizes >cleverness AND elegance. Kludgeware is considered bad, but a (single) >kludge used with flair is considered high art. Software engineers are >more concerned with design. If the overall design is good, low level >violations of abstraction are considered acceptable if they are needed >to implement the design, and bad otherwise. [much eloquent, good stuff deleted] Thank you Robert for your extremely well put differentiation between a good software engineer and a hacker. Unfortunately, I suspect you will soon hear directly from Messr. Ketcham, when he attempts to proseletize you to his teachings. --- Mark A. Breland - Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC) Ada Fault Tolerance | voice: (512) 338-3509 3500 West Balcones Center Drive | FAX: (512) 338-3900 Austin, Texas 78759-6509 USA | internet: breland@mcc.com