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Programming is to Software Entrepreneurs what Mathematics is to Architects. Means to an End.

jaggederest 13y ago
There's a great pun to be made here involving mid-grade professional killers being the means to an end, but I can't seem to formulate it. I'd argue that programming is a lot more core to anything software than mathematics is to most architectural firms.
dinkumthinkum 13y ago
I think this not true. When you say "Software Entrepreneurs" I feel like you are thinking of it only as a set of people trying to make quick photo sharing apps and sell them for a $1B valuation. There is a large amount of software "entrepreneurism" where programming is more than simply a "means to an end" ... unless we reworked your example as " ... Architecting is to Architectural firms" ... sure on some level the firm is more interested in getting their clients separated from their money, but architecture is prime part of it.
- 31reasons 13y ago
  When people say Software is eating the world. What does that mean ? Software is being used as a tool in many different domains to solve problems. I think people who focus on software development to serve software development is in the minority.
  - dinkumthinkum 13y ago
    It's a cute thing to say is all that really is. It's also fun to say that a "A lawyer's job is winning cases for their clients. Using the knowledge of the law is simply a means to an end." But the reality is two, the goal and so-called "means" to achieve the goal are closer aligned than you suggest. Sure, OK, perhaps for a very simple SEO based scheme software product, maybe the "programming" is a trivial part of the whole deal. On some level, it's like a fruitless discussion. Unless, you or anyone seriously claims that for the majority of software, the actual programming is really trivial or tertiary part of the process, then you would just be wrong. Otherwise, I don't really see what the usefulness is in debating programming as "simply a means to an end."

There's a great pun to be made here involving mid-grade professional killers being the means to an end, but I can't seem to formulate it. I'd argue that programming is a lot more core to anything software than mathematics is to most architectural firms.

dinkumthinkum 13y ago

I think this not true. When you say "Software Entrepreneurs" I feel like you are thinking of it only as a set of people trying to make quick photo sharing apps and sell them for a $1B valuation. There is a large amount of software "entrepreneurism" where programming is more than simply a "means to an end" ... unless we reworked your example as " ... Architecting is to Architectural firms" ... sure on some level the firm is more interested in getting their clients separated from their money, but architecture is prime part of it.

31reasons 13y ago
When people say Software is eating the world. What does that mean ? Software is being used as a tool in many different domains to solve problems. I think people who focus on software development to serve software development is in the minority.
- dinkumthinkum 13y ago
  It's a cute thing to say is all that really is. It's also fun to say that a "A lawyer's job is winning cases for their clients. Using the knowledge of the law is simply a means to an end." But the reality is two, the goal and so-called "means" to achieve the goal are closer aligned than you suggest. Sure, OK, perhaps for a very simple SEO based scheme software product, maybe the "programming" is a trivial part of the whole deal. On some level, it's like a fruitless discussion. Unless, you or anyone seriously claims that for the majority of software, the actual programming is really trivial or tertiary part of the process, then you would just be wrong. Otherwise, I don't really see what the usefulness is in debating programming as "simply a means to an end."