From: "Robert I. Eachus" <eachus@mitre.org>
Subject: Re: Comments
Date: 1999/10/26
Date: 1999-10-26T22:29:17+00:00 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <38162C84.A762A730@mitre.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: 7uvbda$h65$1@nnrp1.deja.com
Ehud Lamm wrote:
> This is whole subject is off topic here. But as often mentioned in other
> groups Dijkstra suposedly said that you can tell if someone is a good
> programmer by judging their native language skills.
Let's not try to make this an urban legend. He said exactly that.
Well, I think his exact words were: "The best predictor of a student's
success as a software engineer is his skill in using his native native
language." In any case, he said it at a software engineering conference
in early June 1979--over twenty years ago, ouch! He also said that if
he was running a school to teach programming, he would tie the student's
hands behind their backs for the first year.
In the discussion following, Dijkstra pointed out that to be a
compiler developer, you had to speak English, Dutch, German, or Russian
as a young child, even if it was not your "milk tongue."
--
Robert I. Eachus
with Standard_Disclaimer;
use Standard_Disclaimer;
function Message (Text: in Clever_Ideas) return Better_Ideas is...
next prev parent reply other threads:[~1999-10-26 0:00 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 70+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
[not found] <7ttb4a$8mq$1@nnrp1.deja.com>
[not found] ` <3802597B.9205AEE8@averstar.com>
1999-10-12 0:00 ` Self-referential types Ted Dennison
1999-10-12 0:00 ` Matthew Heaney
1999-10-13 0:00 ` Ted Dennison
1999-10-12 0:00 ` Robert A Duff
1999-10-12 0:00 ` Vladimir Olensky
1999-10-12 0:00 ` Matthew Heaney
1999-10-12 0:00 ` news.oxy.com
1999-10-12 0:00 ` Matthew Heaney
1999-10-12 0:00 ` Ted Dennison
1999-10-12 0:00 ` Stanley R. Allen
1999-10-13 0:00 ` Ted Dennison
1999-10-13 0:00 ` Vladimir Olensky
1999-10-14 0:00 ` Multiple Inheritance in Ada 95 [was Re: Self-referential types] Tucker Taft
1999-10-12 0:00 ` Self-referential types Richard D Riehle
1999-10-12 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1999-10-12 0:00 ` Matthew Heaney
1999-10-13 0:00 ` Ted Dennison
1999-10-13 0:00 ` Matthew Heaney
1999-10-13 0:00 ` Vladimir Olensky
1999-10-13 0:00 ` Vladimir Olensky
1999-10-18 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-10-18 0:00 ` Vladimir Olensky
1999-10-18 0:00 ` Laurent Guerby
1999-10-13 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1999-10-13 0:00 ` Brian Rogoff
1999-10-15 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1999-10-15 0:00 ` Marin David Condic
1999-10-15 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1999-10-18 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-10-19 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1999-10-18 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-10-18 0:00 ` Ed Falis
1999-10-19 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-10-18 0:00 ` Brian Rogoff
[not found] ` <7u86su$o5v$1@nntp8.atl.mindspring.net>
1999-10-18 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1999-10-22 0:00 ` Richard D Riehle
1999-10-22 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
[not found] ` <slrn80fl9f.68j.aidan@skinner.demon.co.uk>
1999-10-19 0:00 ` Wes Groleau
1999-10-21 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-10-21 0:00 ` Jean-Pierre Rosen
1999-10-21 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-10-21 0:00 ` Larry Kilgallen
1999-10-21 0:00 ` Comments (was: Self-referential types) Wes Groleau
1999-10-21 0:00 ` Ehud Lamm
1999-10-22 0:00 ` Ted Dennison
1999-10-23 0:00 ` Ehud Lamm
1999-10-23 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1999-10-23 0:00 ` Ehud Lamm
1999-10-23 0:00 ` Comments Georg Bauhaus
1999-10-24 0:00 ` Comments Ehud Lamm
1999-10-26 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus [this message]
1999-10-28 0:00 ` Comments Jerry van Dijk
1999-10-28 0:00 ` Comments Ted Dennison
1999-10-25 0:00 ` Comments (was: Self-referential types) Wes Groleau
1999-10-23 0:00 ` M.
[not found] ` <Pine.A41.3.96-heb-2.07.991021191504.30582K-100000@pluto.mscc.huji. <381477c9.e1388ff3@ftw.rsc.raytheon.com>
1999-10-25 0:00 ` Larry Kilgallen
1999-10-22 0:00 ` Self-referential types Richard D Riehle
1999-10-23 0:00 ` Robert A Duff
1999-10-23 0:00 ` Richard D Riehle
1999-10-24 0:00 ` Michel DELARCHE
1999-10-12 0:00 ` Ted Dennison
1999-10-12 0:00 ` Matthew Heaney
1999-10-25 0:00 Comments Wilhelm Spickermann
-- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
1997-03-12 0:00 Comments Beamish
1996-11-07 0:00 Comments N.A.Smith
1996-11-11 0:00 ` Comments Hercules Gunter
1996-11-13 0:00 ` Comments ennals
1996-11-14 0:00 ` Comments johnherro
1996-11-14 0:00 ` Comments Dirk Dickmanns
1996-11-18 0:00 ` Comments Richard A. O'Keefe
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