Subject: Re: Kids These Days! (not much Scheme content, but an appeal to Educators)
From: rpw3@rigden.engr.sgi.com (Rob Warnock)
Date: 9 May 2001 03:08:42 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.lang.scheme
Message-ID: <9dacbq$6nk8o$1@fido.engr.sgi.com>
David Rush  <kumo@bellsouth.net> wrote:
+---------------
| FWIW, My first boss told me that, if he had his way, he would hire
| no-one who couldn't demonstrate the ability to write a clear
| explanatory paragraph. Programming lies at an interesting junction
| between literature and mathematics, as various of our luminaries
| (Knuth, etc.) have shown.
+---------------

Personally, I still think Dijkstra said it best:

	Besides a mathematical inclination, an exceptionally good
	mastery of one's native tongue is the most vital asset of
	a competent programmer.[*]

(And English wasn't even his native tongue!)


-Rob

[*] One of the "truths" in EWD 498 "How do we tell truths that might
    hurt?", pp.129-131 in Edsger W. Dijkstra, "Selected Writing
    on Computing: A Personal Perspective" (Springer Verlag, 1982)
    ISBN 0-387-90652-5. Scanned version of original monograph at
    <URL:http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ewd04xx/EWD498.PDF>

-----
Rob Warnock, 31-2-510		rpw3@sgi.com
SGI Network Engineering		<URL:http://reality.sgi.com/rpw3/>
1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy.		Phone: 650-933-1673
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