MAMEWorld Forums - The Loony Bin

> >
> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/a...scientists.html
>
> It will be interesting to see how this pans out.
>
> Imparting knowledge is one thing, but is it enough ?
>
> Take for example computer programming. To be a passable programmer, you need at the
> very least a very good knowledge of the languages you are using and the environment
> you are working in, decent problem solving skills, and a very good memory to keep
> track of the flow of data and logic through the code.
>
> The tech talked about above might be able to give you an excellent knowledge of the
> language syntax and environment, but what about the rest of the skills ?
>
> Tenacity and problem solving are two essential skills for all programmers (well for
> all programmers who want to excel at their art) - never give up, keep trying, the
> ability to look at things from different angles, explore alternate solutions, etc.
>
> Could a knowledge transfer machine teach you these things ? Really, we are talking
> the difference between knowledge and skills ...
>
> A lot of this comes down to work ethic and passion. If you don't particularly like
> programming or computers, treat your work as "another day, another dollar", then
> you'll never be a good programmer. These are what Cringley (Accidental Empires)
> called "lumpen programmers". As Cringley said, these "programmers" should go get a
> job maintaining COBOL code at a large insurance company, because they'll be useless
> at anything else.
>
> On the other hand, if you have real passion for computers, love programming, eat
> sleep and breath computers, love learning new stuff, love discovering new solutions
> or new ways to solve problems, love exploring, love the thrill of bending a machine
> to your will, love messing around in debuggers and beneath the layers of OS's,
> networks, etc, then you'll likely make an excellent programmer - a "gun". And, one
> excellent programmer is worth 100's of lumpens.
>
> So, if a machine is going to teach you to be a computer programmer, could it teach
> you to be an "excellent programmer" (with all the required skills, not just knowledge
> of the syntax and commands) ? Or are people going to take what the machine gives them
> as a basis - they might be "trainee programmers" - and then need to develop their
> problem solving, etc skills through countless 1,000's of hours of hard work ? Could
> such a machine turn someone who dislikes programming, or a "lumpen", into a "gun"
> programmer ?
>
> It will be interesting to see how this pans out.

Are you trying to tell us you haven't watched NBC's "Chuck?"