3 ms·
Ever since FORTRAN came on the scene, there have been tools that make disdainful, unskilled programmers more productive. I doubt this will ever change. It’s in
by sevensor 2y ago
Ever since FORTRAN came on the scene, there have been tools that make disdainful, unskilled programmers more productive. I doubt this will ever change. It’s in the interest of mainstream employers to treat programmers as a fungible resource. There’s a much smaller risk to your business when you hire ten and get one or two good ones in the lot, than if you hire one good one and pay them triple. Things average out, and you’re not beholden to a few people who know their worth. As long as the pay is good enough to keep a couple of competent people around, you can rely on them to cover for the rest. Best of all, you never have to figure out which is which.
- marcosdumay 2y agoYou mean COBOL? FORTRAN wasn't really about lowest common competence. Anyway, about this: > It’s in the interest of mainstream employers to treat programmers as a fungible resource. It's in their interest to make programmers fungible. It's self-delusional to think they succeeded.
- sevensor 2y agoNo, I do mean FORTRAN. Massively lowered the bar. Not that COBOL didn’t, but it was in a different domain and slightly later as I understand it. Have you ever worked with properly old FORTRAN? Some of it is quite good, but some of it, well, it’s regrettable it was ever transferred off of paper tape.