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From: jens@moscom.UUCP (Jens Fiederer)
Newsgroups: net.singles
Subject: portability
Message-ID: <659@moscom.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 6-Mar-86 03:09:57 EST
Article-I.D.: moscom.659
Posted: Thu Mar  6 03:09:57 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 10-Mar-86 08:23:54 EST
Organization: MOSCOM Corp, E Rochester, NY, USA
Lines: 19


> It is this ``entirely unconcerned'' attitude that bothers me.  That is what
> is unprofessional.  To be a professional is to do the best possible job
> even under adverse circumstances.  It is possible to learn how to write
> protable code, and possible to discipline yourself so that you do not
> write unportable code.  I know lots of people who do this routinely.
> I know lots of people who would like to do this but do not know how.  This
> is why I am writing a book.  And I know lots of people who really don't
> care.  And these people I call unprofessional.

"To be a professional is to do the best possible job even under adverse
circumstances" is a statement with which I cannot disagree.  The kicker
is the word "best", assuming some metric of goodness.  My point was simply
that this metric is dependent on the task at hand.  For certain tasks, such
as writing software for the market, portability is heavily weighted.  For
certain other tasks, it is barely relevant.  The true professional will
devote most of the effort to the most relevant factors.

Azhrarn