Re: Programmer knowledge

From: Corey Murtagh (emonk_at_slingshot.no.uce)
Date: 03/21/04 

Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2004 09:44:30 +1200

Rampage wrote:

> Hi. I've been programming since I was a little kid. I've programmed
> everything from the Atari, C64, Amiga, to the PC; assembly language and C.
> I never made the move to C++ because it seemed complicated more than is
> necessary.

Lots of comp.programming people have similar lineage - some with more
languages, or different architectures (Vic20, BBC-B, Apple II(e & GS),
PC for example).

> NOTE: This is not the standard "what is better: C or C++" argument. No. I
> am curious about you C++ programmers.
>
> These days we have MFC. MFC is colossal. C# made things even worse. There
> is NO WAY possible that any programmer in the world could remember all of
> these classes and what they do or what members they implement at what
> protection level. This applies to DirectX programmers as well.

Or to anyone who has to interface to any suitably complex combination of
RTL, APIs and libraries. In other words, most programmers.

> My question is, do you guys reference a lot, or do you try to dig up the
> implementation from your mind somehow? Do you just remember the techniques
> and rely on a lot of referencing, or do you claim that you can remember the
> entire implementation. What's the deal? This has always stopped me from
> going with C++, and it really gets on my nerves every day.

Why remember every tiny detail of every library function or API call?
That's what help files are for. You just remember the bits you need to
keep in mind - language basics and commonly used objects - and reference
the rest as needed.

Of course I have a terrible memory. I know a couple of guys who can
rattle off anything you care to know from the Windows Platform SDK, MFC
reference and a couple of other sources, but they /do/ have eidetic
memory so there's no surprise there. Funny thing is I can code as well
as one of them and run circles around the other ;) 

-- 
Corey Murtagh
The Electric Monk
"Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur!"

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