Computer Science, I'm a hack as a programmer. But a real Systems Analyst
Poll: Are you a Programmer?
71–80 of 87 posts
Re: Poll: Are you a Programmer?
#72I think many people would identify as a hacker before a programmer.
Re: Poll: Are you a Programmer?
#73Actually its kinda funny:
Ever since I started a company with a friend of mine a year ago, I've been calling myself a programmer, even though, officially, we're both co-CEOs of our little startup.
Before that, when I had a day job as a programmer - I used to come up with longer descriptions and alternative titles for what I did at the firm that I worked at.
Odd huh?..=)
Re: Poll: Are you a Programmer?
#74I code, therefore I am.
I never much liked the term "developer", since it sounds vague and wooly. I generally prefer "programmer" or "coder".
Re: Poll: Are you a Programmer?
#75Nope. I'm a web designer and I have some interest in programing, but all I know is a little Actionscript. I come here for the high quality discussion on the articles I do understand, and I read the occasional programming story just to see if I can get anything out of it.
Have you noticed any desire to program more since you started coming here?
Oddly, I'd say it has the opposite effect to a certain extent (Similarly, I'm pretty familiar with front end web development but am most definitely not a hacker)
StackOverflow produce concise and clear answers, Rails webcasts insist (sometimes not entirely convincingly) that everything is quick and easy. HackerNews is frequented far more by programmers with serious breadth and depth of interest and far less by people looking for a quick fix or help with the learning curve. The resulting fondness for arcane languages and esoteric solutions can at times be overwhelwing even for the motivated novice.
On the one hand I think it's important for even non-tech people interested in that startup ecosystem to gain a basic understanding of how hackers think and the choices they face, which is my chief motivation for reading a lot of the programming articles posted here.
Re: Poll: Are you a Programmer?
#76I code, therefore I am. I never much liked the term "developer", since it sounds vague and wooly. I generally prefer "programmer" or "coder".
I think it was in the book Coders At Work that someone said coding is to software as brick-laying is to buildings.
Re: Poll: Are you a Programmer?
#77I code, but it hasn't been advantageous to call myself a programmer for a while now.
My title is technically "software developer", so I just use that. Most jobs nowadays seem to use "software engineer" instead. I generally am not a fan of software engineer, because most software seems to involve a much higher level of trial and error than traditional engineering disciplines. To me, engineer implies a level of guarantee that usually can't be provide in most software systems. In extremely critical soft…
> I generally am not a fan of software engineer, because most software seems to involve a much higher level of trial and error than traditional engineering disciplines.
Software engineers just have a very high standard for "it is now complicated enough". If an engineer is forced by circumstance or insanity to add lots of features to an analog circuit, they end up in the exact same tar pit as the software engineer. Ditto for chemical processing plants, jet engines, etc. In fact, the usual approach these days is to move a lot of non-software complexity into software when possible, so trial and error becomes a feature.
Re: Poll: Are you a Programmer?
#78Just quit the business after 20 years writing embedded C code, but it remains an avocation. Now I teach high-school math.
Re: Poll: Are you a Programmer?
#79My undergraduate degree is in computer science. I discovered during my college days that I love the pursuit of hacking as a sort of art form; I love writing Lisp and I love making beautiful things. I don't love, at all, working as one coder among 100 on a big project; I don't like implementing someone else's ideas. So I'm not a programmer by trade, if that's what this question means. I took another of my passions tha…
I've often wondered why attorneys don't use LaTeX. Especially when you consider all of the different requirements for formatting that are required by different courts. Seems to me that you could hire someone to write the templates, and then the lawyers can stick to what they're good at.... lawyerin'
Re: Poll: Are you a Programmer?
#80My undergraduate degree is in computer science. I discovered during my college days that I love the pursuit of hacking as a sort of art form; I love writing Lisp and I love making beautiful things. I don't love, at all, working as one coder among 100 on a big project; I don't like implementing someone else's ideas. So I'm not a programmer by trade, if that's what this question means. I took another of my passions tha…
I've often wondered why attorneys don't use LaTeX. Especially when you consider all of the different requirements for formatting that are required by different courts. Seems to me that you could hire someone to write the templates, and then the lawyers can stick to what they're good at.... lawyerin'
Yep. You've got it absolutely right. I'm also amazed that people who write and edit words for a living go without keyboard shortcuts for delete word and delete sentence. Not to fetishize the tools or anything, but come on, I use those a thousand times a day. "This sentence blows. M-k"