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I knew I would catch shit for this comment because by and large CS can't be learned any way other than on your own. the field changes too fast for the schools t

I knew I would catch shit for this comment because by and large CS can't be learned any way other than on your own. the field changes too fast for the schools to keep up. being a software developer is an exercise in being a lifelong student. I couldn't resist though. after all the hundreds of hours I've spent dealing with IE related issues, the lead dev learned CS on the bus. It's just too poetic.

jm4 17y ago
There's no doubt IE is a piece of junk, but I would imagine that has more to do with the business end more than anything else. It's not as if programming a browser is that difficult; choosing exactly which features to support can be. The web development world is basically the Wild West. There aren't really any rules. The standards we do have can be vague or incomplete. At some point you find yourself making the decision to follow web developers' intent instead of a so-called standard. Pile on top of that a desire on Microsoft's part to take every opportunity to keep people on the Windows platform and you've got a recipe for disaster for anyone who has to support multiple browsers. I don't think there's any group of developers that could produce something in that kind of environment that we would be happy with.
jimbokun 17y ago
I don't think the problem is the talent of the IE team. I think the problem is they disbanded the IE team for several years. At least, that's what I remember reading in the Founders at Work chapter on Blake Ross. In other words, it was an explicit management decision to not make IE better. In that situation, there is literally nothing the developers can do.
- kragen 17y ago
  Not literally nothing. I guess you haven't read "The Graphing Calculator Story": I was frustrated by all the wasted effort, so I decided to uncancel my small part of the project. I had been paid to do a job, and I wanted to finish it. My electronic badge still opened Apple's doors, so I just kept showing up. http://www.pacifict.com/Story/ http://www.pacifict.com/Story/

jm4 17y ago

There's no doubt IE is a piece of junk, but I would imagine that has more to do with the business end more than anything else. It's not as if programming a browser is that difficult; choosing exactly which features to support can be. The web development world is basically the Wild West. There aren't really any rules. The standards we do have can be vague or incomplete. At some point you find yourself making the decision to follow web developers' intent instead of a so-called standard. Pile on top of that a desire on Microsoft's part to take every opportunity to keep people on the Windows platform and you've got a recipe for disaster for anyone who has to support multiple browsers. I don't think there's any group of developers that could produce something in that kind of environment that we would be happy with.

jimbokun 17y ago

I don't think the problem is the talent of the IE team. I think the problem is they disbanded the IE team for several years. At least, that's what I remember reading in the Founders at Work chapter on Blake Ross. In other words, it was an explicit management decision to not make IE better. In that situation, there is literally nothing the developers can do.

kragen 17y ago
Not literally nothing. I guess you haven't read "The Graphing Calculator Story": I was frustrated by all the wasted effort, so I decided to uncancel my small part of the project. I had been paid to do a job, and I wanted to finish it. My electronic badge still opened Apple's doors, so I just kept showing up. http://www.pacifict.com/Story/ http://www.pacifict.com/Story/