After many years, I've slowly accepted that I am actually a programmer. No, not a particularly gifted programmer - but I do love programming.
For many years, I held that I was just a systems administrator. Of course, being a half-decent sysadmin means you can at least program your way out of a tight spot...
But then, suddenly, you are hooked and find programming is a way of life.
Still, I am far from a talented programmer. But I'll work on it!
As of early 2008, I am a keen Perl, Ruby and Bash programmer. I stay as far away as possible from Javascript. I shudder at the thought of writing Java, recalling earlier traumas. And I'll have to admit to my psycotherapist I have still not recovered from my many years of BASIC.
Several years ago, I came across this short text - I won't hold it as truth anymore (hey, I just felt ashamed at finding it said copy con program.exe where it should have said cat > a.out! [shudder].
- The programmer's national anthem is 'AAAAAAAARRRRGHHHHH!!'.
- Beta. Software undergoes beta testing shortly before it's released. Beta is Latin for still doesn't work.
- I have yet to meet a C compiler that is more friendly and easier to use than eating soup with a knife.
- Hey! It compiles! Ship it!
- "Documentation is like sex: when it is good, it is very, very good; and when it is bad, it is better than nothing."
- A computer scientist is someone who, when told to "Go to Hell," sees the "go to," rather than the destination, as harmful.
- "#define QUESTION ((bb) || !(bb)) - Shakespeare."
Of course, Shakespear didn't study enough boolean logic - The answer is clearly FF, which -evaluated in a boolean context- yields TRUE. Any questions?
- Real programmers use:
cat > a.out</li>
<li>[gwolf@unix gwolf]$ man woman<BR>No manual entry for woman</li>
<li>Nothing is more permanent than "temporary"</li>
<li>Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs and the universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots.<br/>
So far, the universe is winning.<br/>
<em>-Richard Cook</em></li>
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