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Anecdotal: just last week a CS graduate at my work produced Python code so horrible, that our tech lead refused to comment on it. Have you heard about storing a

Anecdotal: just last week a CS graduate at my work produced Python code so horrible, that our tech lead refused to comment on it. Have you heard about storing an app's - no, an app part's - settings in a __builtin__ module? And that's a tip of an iceberg in this case :) Well, being a programmer I am able to answer both simple and a bit more complicated CS questions, although I worked hard on my own to be able to as I have no CS degree. The reverse is not true - the CS graduates cannot produce maintainable code. At least that was the case in those few cases I witnessed, so of course it's not (probably) a rule, but it certainly happens.

mamcx 13y ago
This. A "simple" thing like the kind of language you used to learn first have a huge impact in how you code or solve problems. And if, for example, people learn first C, then try to workaround the limitations of it... in python. I learn first foxpro. And my personal experience is that it give me a huge boost in database/data manipulation than the regular developer. To this day (I do integrations between several ERPs made with different languages and databases) the system that I have meet with people with strong C-like and algorithmic stuff are qualitative worse, by a LOT (take in account, is not normal to meet GREAT GREAT developers, so YMMV), that people that start with DBase languages (yes, DBase/Fox was HUGE in my country ;)). Is like this. If a person that learn by the CS path have a problem, inside his C/C++/Java:= Amazing. But when the same problem is inside a database engine :=Not amazing. Is weird! Some folks have tell me I'm a great developer (I know I'm not. I'm very average) because I know SQL! I could figure how solve stuff with Sql/Sql languages naturally, but then... I'm inside C/C++/Java and I lost if need to do a black tree...

mamcx 13y ago

This. A "simple" thing like the kind of language you used to learn first have a huge impact in how you code or solve problems. And if, for example, people learn first C, then try to workaround the limitations of it... in python. I learn first foxpro. And my personal experience is that it give me a huge boost in database/data manipulation than the regular developer. To this day (I do integrations between several ERPs made with different languages and databases) the system that I have meet with people with strong C-like and algorithmic stuff are qualitative worse, by a LOT (take in account, is not normal to meet GREAT GREAT developers, so YMMV), that people that start with DBase languages (yes, DBase/Fox was HUGE in my country ;)). Is like this. If a person that learn by the CS path have a problem, inside his C/C++/Java:= Amazing. But when the same problem is inside a database engine :=Not amazing. Is weird! Some folks have tell me I'm a great developer (I know I'm not. I'm very average) because I know SQL! I could figure how solve stuff with Sql/Sql languages naturally, but then... I'm inside C/C++/Java and I lost if need to do a black tree...