The Mediocre Programmer
themediocreprogrammer.com
The Mediocre Programmer
1–10 of 95 posts
Re: The Mediocre Programmer
#2> before we can become better programmers we have to pass through being mediocre programmers
Sure it's true, but it leaves out a fundamental truth about programming (and technically complex disciplines in general): most people that attempt programming will never be a good programmer - indeed most never even cross through the gate of mediocrity.
There seems to me to be a superegalitarian notion that all people given the same opportunities will be capable of achieving, if not the same, then comparable results on a given task (or set of tasks of a given type).
That simply is not true - "fake it 'till you make it" is not universal.
Re: The Mediocre Programmer
#3> The Mediocre Programmer is a book about the journey of becoming a better programmer. But before we can become better programmers we have to pass through being mediocre programmers. Mediocre doesn't mean a bad programmer --- far from it. It means lacking skill
Great idea.. We're all mediocre programmers at some aspect of development even after spending a decade in the industry. And conversely many still suffer imposter's syndrome. Seems like a great topic to address.
Re: The Mediocre Programmer
#4> before we can become better programmers we have to pass through being mediocre programmers Sure it's true, but it leaves out a fundamental truth about programming (and technically complex disciplines in general): most people that attempt programming will never be a good programmer - indeed most never even cross through the gate of mediocrity. There seems to me to be a superegalitarian notion that all people given t…
Eh, mediocre is usually defined as something like "middling" or "middle-of-the-road" or "average". It's plausible to me that most reasonably intelligent people who try very hard can become "above average" programmers. "Good", I don't know.
Re: The Mediocre Programmer
#5> before we can become better programmers we have to pass through being mediocre programmers Sure it's true, but it leaves out a fundamental truth about programming (and technically complex disciplines in general): most people that attempt programming will never be a good programmer - indeed most never even cross through the gate of mediocrity. There seems to me to be a superegalitarian notion that all people given t…
On another hand, many commercial programming tasks or programming roles are relatively mundane or lower-skill, and do not require exceptional levels of programming ability. If an exceptional programmer was dropped into one of these roles, they might quit out of boredom, or try to refashion the role into building tooling or systems to automate away some or all of the drudgery, but perhaps at the cost of not delivering enough immediate business value to justify their employment, or spending 100 hours building a beautifully elegant solution for a class of problem of which there will only ever be a single instance, which can be solved with 1 hour of bad scripting & manual data tweaking in a spreadsheet. Mediocre work performed in situations demanding mediocrity can be sufficient while producing economic value & providing for one's income.
Re: The Mediocre Programmer
#6The funny thing is that another definition of mediocre is 'low quality'. And it seems plausible to me that even expert programmers can write low quality programs.
Re: The Mediocre Programmer
#7> before we can become better programmers we have to pass through being mediocre programmers Sure it's true, but it leaves out a fundamental truth about programming (and technically complex disciplines in general): most people that attempt programming will never be a good programmer - indeed most never even cross through the gate of mediocrity. There seems to me to be a superegalitarian notion that all people given t…
I feel like if you're reading this book, there are good chances you're already better than most and that you're a good programmer or on path to become one. The difference between mediocre and good is often that you're seeking to improve.
Re: The Mediocre Programmer
#8> before we can become better programmers we have to pass through being mediocre programmers Sure it's true, but it leaves out a fundamental truth about programming (and technically complex disciplines in general): most people that attempt programming will never be a good programmer - indeed most never even cross through the gate of mediocrity. There seems to me to be a superegalitarian notion that all people given t…
I gotta ask, What do you consider good?
There's plenty of working software that's good enough. Made by fair programmers who don't care about lisp or FP.
Is your scale of good affected by what you see here on HN? Because I feel like the front page of this site has the same effect as Facebook for skewing views of reality.
Re: The Mediocre Programmer
#9> before we can become better programmers we have to pass through being mediocre programmers Sure it's true, but it leaves out a fundamental truth about programming (and technically complex disciplines in general): most people that attempt programming will never be a good programmer - indeed most never even cross through the gate of mediocrity. There seems to me to be a superegalitarian notion that all people given t…
Eh, mediocre is usually defined as something like "middling" or "middle-of-the-road" or "average". It's plausible to me that most reasonably intelligent people who try very hard can become "above average" programmers. "Good", I don't know.
Sure, but I don't think we're working with a single peak distribution here - and good luck coming up with a workable definition for "reasonably intelligent".
Re: The Mediocre Programmer
#10Needs an index.