Re: Latest Joel article

Roddy Pratt wrote:
>
> IMO, what distinguishes a great engineer from a good one is the DEPTH
> of abstractions that they can handle if required. Everybody has
> bounds at which they think "here be dragons", and they just have to
> assume that the lower levels work, and they don't really care how it
> happens. For me, it's at the microcode level (although in truth I
> haven't used assembler for years).

My rule of thumb is that one should have a very decent understanding of at
least one level below that which one normally works at. More than one level
is of course better, but not having even one such level can result in
nothing but inconpetence. If schools are not at least teaching that one
level down then they are failing.

--
Wayne Niddery - Logic Fundamentals, Inc. (www.logicfundamentals.com)
RADBooks: http://www.logicfundamentals.com/RADBooks.html
"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are
injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say
there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks
my leg." ? Thomas Jefferson


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