From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: 103376,c9d5fc258548b22a X-Google-NewGroupId: yes X-Google-Attributes: gida07f3367d7,domainid0,public,usenet X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit Path: g2news2.google.com!news4.google.com!feeder.news-service.com!feeder1.cambriumusenet.nl!feed.tweaknews.nl!217.73.144.44.MISMATCH!feeder.ecngs.de!ecngs!feeder2.ecngs.de!194.25.134.126.MISMATCH!newsfeed01.sul.t-online.de!t-online.de!newsfeed.arcor.de!newsspool4.arcor-online.net!news.arcor.de.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "Dmitry A. Kazakov" Subject: Re: How do I write directly to a memory address? Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada User-Agent: 40tude_Dialog/2.0.15.1 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Reply-To: mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de Organization: cbb software GmbH References: <67063a5b-f588-45ea-bf22-ca4ba0196ee6@l11g2000yqb.googlegroups.com> <8r86vgFc3uU1@mid.individual.net> <19fh1chm74f9.11cws0j5bckze.dlg@40tude.net> <4d4ff70e$0$6886$9b4e6d93@newsspool2.arcor-online.net> <737a6396-72bd-4a1e-8895-7d50f287960e@d28g2000yqc.googlegroups.com> <4d5008a5$0$6879$9b4e6d93@newsspool2.arcor-online.net> <4d5031fe$0$6765$9b4e6d93@newsspool3.arcor-online.net> <1f229967-d3cf-42b6-8087-c97ee08652f3@i40g2000yqh.googlegroups.com> <4d51169e$0$7657$9b4e6d93@newsspool1.arcor-online.net> <1bnp0pw1c8r5b$.guxc48qweiwe.dlg@40tude.net> <1ju2bba947c1h.y05qev0wjx2t.dlg@40tude.net> Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2011 10:21:15 +0100 Message-ID: <25z0jyvibze7.1pi559yfki5lo$.dlg@40tude.net> NNTP-Posting-Date: 09 Feb 2011 10:21:15 CET NNTP-Posting-Host: 96f78c62.newsspool4.arcor-online.net X-Trace: DXC=eJb_F]_TZLeJ00P1S40fZg4IUK On Tue, 8 Feb 2011 21:19:30 +0000 (UTC), Simon Clubley wrote: > On 2011-02-08, Dmitry A. Kazakov wrote: >> The next test was this: >> >> x and FF = ? >> x or FF = ? >> x xor FF = ? >> >> Only one of 5 candidates could solve the first two! Only one managed xor! >> > Thanks for the response. > > In some ways this example is even worse because this is a simple (and > generally language independent) boolean operation which does not require > knowing how to mask out a bit from within a byte in a C program as your > first example did. Yes, it is indicative, they just don't understand the concept. BTW, this is a common case for many young programmers. They learn tricks as a dog would, but they miss the basic ideas. They can solve a problem when the pattern is known. If you modify it just a bit, they fail. E.g. he might know how to test one bit (somebody shown to him), but ask him how to test if one bit is set and another is clean in one memory read ... and full stop. > This is a serious question: Do these people get fired after a period of > time when it's discovered they are useless (and hence they move from job > to job) or do they somehow manage to survive in a job ? They survived, at least one of them. It was always a puzzle to me why almost anything around us works, being programmed by programmers like that. I have no doubt that an average programmer isn't much better. -- Regards, Dmitry A. Kazakov http://www.dmitry-kazakov.de