Skip to main content

One of the best blogs of 2010

The blog Confessions of a mediocre programmer by Alan Norton is one of the most interesting blogs I read in 2010. Including a great definition of a Mediocre Programmer:



"Mediocre programmer - A programmer who has a limited toolset. He knows the syntax of only the simplest commands, but he knows where to find the syntax for more complex commands. He doesn’t know how to write the most efficient code, but he knows how to rewrite and test the code for greater efficiency if he must. He runs into more roadblocks along his passage to success, but he views each as a challenge and is confident that he will find a path around each roadblock. He may take longer to get there, but he always reaches his goal. He doesn’t know how to create a DLL, but he knows he can if necessary. Like most programmers, he doesn’t particularly like documenting his work but does so anyway because he is a professional." Alan Norton (2010)
A definition which in their heart of hearts a lot of successful people would see themselves in.
The basic point being from the perspective of this blog is good problem-solving skills are central to being successful. Getting the basics right - understanding the requirements, good analysis and design, project management and perseverance can get an average/mediocre programmer through.
I really enjoyed this blog posting and there is a lot there professional and students alike. The posting includes the following: " Yes, I am a mediocre programmer, primarily because I never needed to be a great programmer." Alan Norton (2010)


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Problem-solving or computational Thinking

Confession time, this has been a research interest for me, along with a number of colleagues, since around 2005. It started with undergraduate students - investigating teaching and developing problem solving skills as a first step in developing programming skills through the use of LEGO-based robots and graphics based programming for undergraduate students. The main vehicle then for developing the problem-solving skills was the LEGO RCX Mindstorms robotics kits and series of gradually more challenging robot-based tasks. Lawhead et al (2003) stated that robots “…provide entry level programming students with a physical model to visually demonstrate concepts” and “the most important benefit of using robots in teaching introductory courses is the focus provided on learning language independent, persistent truths about programming and programming techniques. Robots readily illustrate the idea of computation as interaction”. Synergies can be made with our wo...
2 comments
Read more

Problem Solving Open educational Resource

  Another new Open Education Resource (OER) has been made available by the School of Science and Technology, University of Northampton. Problem-Solving Author: Dr Scott Turner http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/19001 Details These mini lectures are intended for undergraduate computing students, for providing simple steps in problem solving before the students learn a programming language. Problem-Solving and Programming is a common first year undergraduate module on the BSc Computing Programme at the University of Northampton. This material was taken from the problem solving part of the module and provides an introduction to five topics in problem-solving. The resource can be found at:  http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/19001 After one week on JORUM  93 downloads  and  12 views  of the OER.
Post a Comment
Read more

10 most view post on the problem-solving blog - April 2020

Building an artificial neuron in Scratch Build yourself a Crumble Eggbot from junk Full details at http://bit.ly/2yZ3dZT There was three inspirations for this project ·Eggbot - http://www.instructables.com/id/Plastic-Egg-Bot/?utm_content=buffer9b065&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer  ·Femi Owolade supported by Nic Hughes ran a session at Mozilla Festival 2016 using the Crumble’s to make a wheeled robot. ·The junkbot project https://junkbots.blogspot.co.uk/  Kit ·Kinder Egg (without the Chocolate and toy) · Crumble   also available at  https://redfernelectronics.co.uk/crumble/  · 4x Crocodile clips and leads  · Battery pack  and 3xAA · Vibrating motor  ·Tape (lots of) Free Computing Resource: Junkbots and Scratch 1 The Junkbots project has been running for a number of years as an initiative to bring sustainability, computing and engineering together by building bots out o...
Post a Comment
Read more