Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ulowell!m2c!wpi!lfoard
From: lfoard@wpi.wpi.edu (Lawrence C Foard)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: hackers
Keywords: software
Message-ID: <899@wpi.wpi.edu>
Date: 18 Feb 89 21:05:37 GMT
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Mass.
Lines: 30

I would like to present the opposite side of the argument about hackers.
I generally program in the hacker style. i.e.
No flowcharts or writting code out on paper.
Use comments only where needed.
Allow programs to evolve.
Atleast 50% of the code I have written has been for use on various research
projects. I believe allowing code to evolve has some important advantages over
working from specs. For example a typical project:
Person needs a program to do something. Quickly write code to do it. Show it
to them and ask what they would like added to it, suggest things that might be
useful and could be easily done. Repeat until satisfied. Clean up and optimize
the final code. Of course the complaint about this is that you have to make
changes in the code. But it has to be considered that you saved huge amounts
of time by not writting reams of paper work, and have also given the person
what they wanted instead of what they initially asked for. This is fairly
important since many people don't know what the computer can do for them. For
example an extra ten minutes of coding can add a feature that will save
hundreds of hours of time. 
I have seen figures from the software industry and they are abismal, only 10%
of programs are ever successfully finished. Most hackers I know have from 75%
to 90% success. This is a huge amount of money considering that a hacker can
also produce this code with out the cost of 10 paper shufflers. 
Another fact that is often over looked is people who enjoy what they are doing
do a much better job than those who don't. Given the choice of working for a
company that requires you to fill out a form for every change in the code or
Mc Donalds, I would pick Mc Donalds any day.
-- 
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| My opinions are violently objected to by my employer. I was fired last year|
| but they forgot to remove my account. Lawrence Foard (entropy)             |
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