i remember reading this page too in the book. Thought it was a lil too personal but it stayed on my mind longer. Must ve struck a cord too in other people. I saw it quoted on a blog recently.

I'm thinking here of some renowned intellectuals and thought/idea workers. I'm thinking that the more one grows in intelligence the harder it is 4 him to see God much like the more alcohol a person takes the harder it 4 him walk straight.

Notable achiever atheists/agnostics:

bertrand Russell
Alan turing - turing completeness
Einstein - a fabricated God
bill gates
don ho - notepad++ creator
damien katz - couchdb
Linus torvalds - Linux fame
Richard stallman - emacs , free software foundation
john neuman - agnostic most of life converted in later life.
Many(if not most) Nobel laureates and fields medalists.
Most popular/notable programmers.

Nairaland has passed fad stage and has bcom a staple , it should therefore increase in usability features as it grows on.
Some of ths features may exist but i'm not aware they re publicly accessible.

1. A robust api
any site with significant constant traffic has avenues for programmatic access. With nL it's overdue.
Logging to make a submission/view a post/check 4 new post should long have automated alternatives , even Google with its ultra easy interface has a search API.
Rule: if its automatable automate it.
2. More search/profiling functions
search by highest/x responses/post
,
search by highest/x views
,
views/ response statistics,
section activity statistics .Section with most post/views cud interest som new comer or one who wants to know where crowd is at.

sequel to a previous post.
this one is wilder and more speculative.

1.) smart variables
-----------------------
i dont see any direct application of this concept,
but then many 'nice-to-have' concepts that were implemented
did find some practical use in the future.
the idea is that a variable once reassigned should be able
to remember its previous value.
this can help in debugging.
for example -
in imperative programming,
if var is a variable,
var = A; var now points to A.
var = B, var has lost memory of its previous value .
a smart variable would consume memory and be inefficient and all that
but then its all about - being able to recall,and i would reflect
real world scenarios.
in a phone conversation that got interrupted or
when a speaker digresses, they can backtrack and get back on track
often by asking "what was it i/we were talking about b4 i got interrupted/rambled off"

2.) more realistic generics
------------------------------
the whole generic concepts as taught in textbooks is built around
restricting acceptance of objects into a container,
but sometimes one may want to valid objects to belong to a set,
instead of being just one type.
anyone that belongs to the set can then make it thru instead
of getting bounced.
presently a list that accepts only integers could be
defined as:
List<Integer>
what if i want a list that
accepts any of Integer,String,Employee.
I could be wrong here but the explanation on generics
is pretty loosey and i'll have to create different signatures for this.
the work around is to create your own data structure and
create a registrar and bouncer - but the idea is that
there should be only 1 signature- .

3. Exception throwing should be switchable
-----------------------------------------------
like it is in c++ ,that crappy language.
but it helps sometimes that a constructor that
throws exceptions , shouldnt throw it- e.g
when instances of the type are to be created
as static final members in a nother class,
before the enclosing class' constructor is called.
wrapping the final constants in try/catch block
to handle the exception that they may throw but (wont')
is impossible!!

4.) 2 way regular expression pattern object
------------------------------------------------
again, i dont use regular expressions- its ugly
and i always promise that i'll get around to learning
them so this piont could be wrong-
but the idea here is - that
regular expressions match strings ,
a pattern is specified and a string argument is matched
against the pattern. pretty flat.
idea is, specify a pattern, and if a string matches the pattern,
the string could be split into the components of the pattern.
how could this be useful.
for those string parsing programs - and believe me -
string parsing is one huge body of programming work.
say,
a string pattern is to match - (Numbers)(Operators)(Numbers)...
(for a calculator app)
the regular expression could split the arguments into
an array of string matching the pattern.
in the said calculator app,this will save the programmer writing
the tokenizer,
this could be used to split credit cards,zip etc.
bye bye redundant tokenization.

5.) more meta capabilities imbued in class object
------------------------------------------------------
For now any meta functionality in java/c sharp is
relegated to the reflections package.
but because java classes make reflections work so cumbersome,
the programmer has to do meta tasks manually,
how? he runs javap , or runs the javadoc -- to see which method
exists in a parent ,
if one is programming a class,
he cant say - if method X exists in parent, //do this
its just not possible.
so java programmer has to live in a bloated IDE
or juggle btw javadoc and code he's writting-
the more meta capabilities that ar primitive to a class,
the more a programmer can do with less.
another scenario is that ,
when a class is created, its super classes are constructed
and the methods are hard-wired into the parent,
but if the methods are stored in a mapping structure,
then faster programs can be created if programmer
can deliberately empty all the super classes hashmap
and the program only loads super methods as needed!!
but there maybe some caching scheme in place but
point be , methods are too hard wired to classes.
languages like Io have gone back to the simpler
way of just treating methods as hashmap objects.

6.) accessing program data at runtime
----------------------------------------
I think this may have been solved.
but i'm not sure-
early beginners in programming
often fall into the trap of wanting
to use not the value of a variable but
it name programatically.
e.g
int x = 10.

what is x,can be determined easily
but - getting the name of all integer variables
whose value is 10, is hard.
the data in the program is not easily accessible
, this could be justified but it can be limiting
and frustrating.
programmers want full access full knowledge- no restrictions.

7.) modifiable software at runtime
------------------------------------------
I think this will he preserve of AI systems
for programs that can modify themselves when running,
this will required that 6. above become reality,
and that the program come with its compiler,
luckily this is a reality.
modern java comes with a compiler interface,
though its documentation is horrible and pathetic.

to the last poster:

it's all about convenience.
Strings are just a 'mere' collection of characters- they can be represented
as an array of characters.
C treated strings as such, erlang and haskell treat them as such
and both languages (erlang,haskell) have come under heavy criticism
for their crudeness in this respect.
Any programmer who's programmed with String objects doesnt want to
return back to manipulating an array of characters.
Same thing should go for table types.
whatabout when tabular data gets into more than 2 dimensions,
which would be easier, manipulating a 3 d or 4,5 d array or manipulating
a single table object?
This data type is begging to be created !
and should.
All java provides is a crude data model for gui's - jtable model-
i'm talking of a generic table object- that resides in the java.util. library.

e.g of tabular data -
in this programming section sb talked about creating a cgpa calculator-

a table (that can have pre-canned algorithms applied to it can handle this very easily)

without tables - a programmer will resolve to linear solutions.
i.e 1) create a template - describing the equivalent of row1 of a table.
e.g
class studentData
{
courseCode:
qualityPoint:
creditHours:
Grade(char):
}

courseForm<studentData> //collection of records,
then the algorithms will be applied to the courseForm.
or courseList.
e.g
cgpa = sum of gradePoint/sum of credit hours

but a table can handle this.
--
stock markets
----------------
creating a stock market app will necessitate the redundant templating
that goes into making the student cgpa data app,
a template will be created - representing the tables first row-
algorithms will be applied - sth. that can be abstracted,
the list goes on and on.
A table data type is long over due.

this is the problem in this field.
any non programmer who sees an "html programmer" "coding html" as they say,
( i wonder when html became a programming language on par with javascript,c++!)
will be so impressed he'll think the person is a guru in the same class as
richard stallman or any top programmer - and the html
guy will so love to swim in that guru aura he's created because of his
skill and pressing angle brackets quickly!!.
unfortunately graphics guys can't get away with such deception,
that's like p square passing themselves off as maths dons - they just cant fake it!!
but some really no ambition peeps can.
and if they muster courage to know databases(sql) and server scriptiong (php)
forget it - their price quotes will stretch into 7+ figures !!
I think its these class fellows that coined all this
grand qualifiers for their counting apps - "manager"
. they take one abstract idea and redundantly replicate them in
so many domains with fancy names.
one counting app for supermarkets (i mean "store manager")
one counting app for churches ("church management")
one counting app for schools aka "school manager"
the contradiction is that some software shops with large swarms of
these kind of programmers are doing very well !
because they've filled the market with their grand named counting apps!!
what can't marketing do.
but the down side is seeing the dollars roll in,these folks are saying
that this is how to do software.
And yet we wonder why the next facebook,twitter,google is yet to come out of
africa!!.

@javanian
That's exactly what i'm saying. the discipline required by programming,
informally requiring that every line of code,which is a line of logic be correct(i.e true)
, carries over into mathematics- which is also built on logic.
a good programmer is a good informal logician,
he can think deductively given (few) known general facts,
doing this over time -- and then getting back into mathematics,
one would find (hopefully) that maths is not as scary and as big a monster
as it previously seemed(i.e b4 one became a programmer)
. infact, except for the naturally gifted mathematicians ,
A page full of mathematics symbols can be as unsavoury as you could imagine.
Have you noticed how poor school children overall perform in mathematics?
its a global malady?! and in my opinion-its because they emotional component
of mathematics is so high that it blocks the rational mind of the prospect,
programming forces one to learn to think rationally and by consequence
control the emotional screamings in his/head - over time the programmer
can take a problem he has no idea how to solve - immediately- and coldly
dissect it - a non programmer will be too emotionally overwhelmed to handle the task-
it is this training that makes a programmer better at mathematics! not whether
he was scared of it a birth or not.

this is suprising- but once somebody has gotten the 'fear of maths ' into him/her
it may be hard to drive out. They'll go around believing and saying that "i'm not/never was good in maths"
from my experience growing up i though that was my lot,and just accepted it,
but i've come to discover that engaging in programming can make one adept in
mathematics. i mean i predisposes ones mind thru the conditioning of logical thinking to easily understand mathematical thought processes.
so, raising children up by teaching them how to program could pay off in the long run when they come face to face with mathematics.
if i could advice any parent this what i'd say. from age 4/5 let them learn and engage in programming concepts,
write little programs, parents who are technical should supervise their work,
and continue giving them more and more challenging works,
by age 10,they'd have developed a skill for finding patterns, and could then
apply those to maths,which requires this skill too.

or is the economic climating necessitating the product patterns!

i'm talking of the tendency for nigerians to develop softwares of the same
essential types.
it's now:
sms-based solutions (they'll be a flock of dev's here)
otherwise its "manager" apps.

supermarket managers,
church managers,
hotel managers,
school managers,

then, microfinance softwares--
essentially this kinds of software form the bulk of what our industry is touting.
they've been programmers with over 10years+ experience in software
development and common , they're game has stopped at this
'counting' apps.
counting applications cuz,they essentially deal with discrete quantities,
discrete quantities with similar price and other characteristics.
I recently was a prometric center and the java tutor there was saying
the bulk of the testers preferred the simpler certifications -
cisco certifications etc,
if this is the case in the nigerian software arena,then its really about
an attitude of mind.
Dont get me wrong,in my opinion even typical software can be very hard
to do- very hard-but not aspiring to our edge is even a worse sin
against humanity and God - cuz it deliberately choosing to settle for less.

I've been wondering who oversee's the job specification writer for nigerian I.T firms.
one thing is clear from most of these ads : those folks looking to employ want
a slave, they want some bozo they'll drive like a nail into the ground,
they some human floor wax they'll rub the life out with work to make their organization
shine.
how dyu ask for a programmer with multifaceted experience in almost all I.T fields.
one ad i saw, wanted specifically a mid level web designer,
to boost their I.T department, and he was expected to have a laundry list of the following
skills:

"strong" - they love this word so much- c#,java,c++,php,javascript,skills.
"proficient"-another standard quip - in (a comma separated list of databases)
(are they hiring a developer or web guy?)
"good" html,css, skills .
it didnt end there-
boss wants mobile software proficiency!!
so the lucky dev must have:
skills in j2me,(android ) and (this was so stupid) wireless toolkit(i though they said j2me),
web servers were mentioned:
apache, I think nginx or so.
operating systems were mentioned.

in addition to the usual staple:
a degree in computer science/maths/(numerate field)
what does a web designer do with c++!
someone picks a hodge pudge of technologies he hears being flung around
and puts in the requirements shopping cart!
NO common sense no thinking no consultation with industry experts,
they just show their ignorance to whole world thru their silly postings.
if you tell them that a good programmer isnt measured by their 10 feet
list of bondage chains they wount listen, if you tell them that
a willingness and eagerness and passion to continue learning is
greater than knowing the latest buzzword they'll think your silly.
And in their ignorance i guess many companies have shooed away
top star programmers just cuz they were'nt buzzword compliant.
Perpetrating the endless trend of entrenched mediocrity in
such a highly demanding international field as this.

since programming is at its core a combination of data structures and algorithms,
and since the java language is the most robust language ever to hit the programming
planet, i think it would be a real plus if some of its core libraries or utils developers
though of the following stuffs.

graphs : - graphs are the core of most of the advanced applications on the planets
and even for simple ones, they are their super sets, e.g a linked list is a type of graph,
but sadly there's no native java graph primitives.
would be so nice to have.
Algorithm books are full of graph topics yet java doesnt deem it fit to make it available,
how odd.

more robust hash maps.
At least java is ahead of some other languages that provide very little utilities in this
respect - some give you an array and a list and that's all.
but java's hashmaps, could be expanded some more e.g
multiple key hashing to same value- this would be really nce to have.
work arounds for these can be very messy and tedious to hand code.

equal-bases-hash-maps.
-----------------------
for a name to call something like this.
this would be not so easy to define as a hashmap that is defined as A maps to B.
but the real world is more complex,
sometimes and object maps to a universe of other objects,
with this kind of container- you throw in one object thats belongs to a set,
and the result returns any other object in the set (but not the entered object)
- examples in real life.
synonyms - in english.
a word like steal, is in the same bag with pilfer, rob, shoplift, loot etc.
and yet they are all similar , so someone who doesnt want to use the cliche'd
'steal' may throw into the container holding the others and get a different
but equivalent word.

table type:
--------------
this type of data structure is so long over due, that i wonder why
a real primitive hasnt been put in the util package.
tables are all around us,but its implementation is still done via
hash table constructs,
multiplication tables - database tables, excel spreadsheets, mileage-distance tables,
etc.
this is like an expanded hashtable/map but its built to be able to use by
lay programmers who must tabulate data.
there's so much 2D data around us that a table primitive ought to be
a commodity not hiding away as a model for a gui.
imagine a multiplication table,
where you could cut - out a subtable. say the table is a square with
9 by 9 dimension and you want the sub table from column 3 to 7 , making
a 4 by 4 subtable, cumbersome to hand code - but zooming and minimizing functions
on the table really really is an application of this function.

if i have to explain the moral of the story to you [instinctg]
then you never either had an artist to cavort with or
the programmer killed your artist .
[WISH THERE WAS A SMILEY FOR A STRAIGHT FACE HERE ]


ok.

i hope your site will be usable and responsive.
more responsive than this forum .
I had this idea buzzing in my head for years but too negligent
and busy to give it a try.
more grease to your elbow jare.
I was imaginin how much junks people have in their houses
and have to end uup discarding or dashing it out
when - somebody else is terribly in need of such stuff.
i mean how do they connect?!
i though of calling such a forum - "stuff4sale"
maybe i'll create it , maybe not
but consider making yours have regional groupings.
so buyers and sellers in the same locale can discover each other.
keep it up.
hope registeration and posting is free.

@kanirip

after one has programmed consistently or haphazardly for say 10 years
maybe less won't he be in position to grasp the technicalities in the very technical courses?
like operating systems and algorithms.

A man was having an affair with his secretary. an office thingi.
it was so umh that they took it home after work and
she became his significant unwedded other.
it was - ummh honey can't have enough of me/u -
we all thought it was a matter of time before he said the word we
were all waiting for.
she smiled more and more like she had finally nailed him .
but that wasnt all to her - she chose his ward drobe , his food ,
and his shoes - friends remarked that the man was looking daper than

usual , it was his live-in honey that was doing things.
she also took him to high society functions and stuff like that,
shows of the elitist kind ,not rowdy rap music concerts.
she was polishing up her man

the story didnt end there
randy had anoda secretary.
this one didnt have coffee breaks with him
she was business like
if she had a heart or was romantic it didnt show
but she was efficient .
while the ladies at the office were chattering away like crickets
lady loved her work and worked at it.
she was a programmer.
their affair started in his mind when she showed him, using cold
maths, how the company could save money using a different quantitive
technique.
now ,this is a company that ran on heuristics
but this ice lady suggestd techniques with measurable results.
the difference was amazingly clear.
profits rocketed, the man was credited the man was promoted.
talk of praise , nobody knew it was the office lady that was the

brain.
was she smart?
the man was just realising it.
if sb is smart enough to affect your career advancement u'd look

again?
so he looked again and looked again at her.
then he saw it- no ring on index finger?! she was free.
no he failed to avoid her but he lost interest in his former woman
the rivalry wasnt small thing.
the first hated the programmer for snatching her man
and plotted against her
but no no no.
she failed , the programmer with cold calculation sent assassins
after her and the job was as smooth as u could imagine.
she died when her car sommersaulted 3rice and caught fire exploding
after the 3rd flip - she possibly made it out dead .charred to soot.

that put paid to that distraction.
the man married asap but it was a done deal orchestrated by the new

lady.

many years later the man began wondering if he had taken the right

move really.
her cold calculating mind was becoming predictable and monotonous
she lacked the spark and liveliness of his former lover.
she always wore black
she was always thinking things thru
and she had no sense of humour.
he wondered if he had made a mistake with her.
if wondered if she killed his late ex.
he missed the artiste but the artiste is dead the programmer killed

her.

version 4.0+ runs on java 6.
too busy to check up on it - on anoda hard drive.
try downloading it again - or ,

can't tell now - -
downloaded it um 2 months ago .
if you really need a jde u shdnt be too version conscious shd u?

thought about it too
theyre programmers and there are programmers
too the lay man all code writers are programmers and they're right.
but some types of programmes require more maths than lay logic.
e.g
games - 3d games,
Artificial intelligence,
search ,distributed software
,low level softwares -

infact , softwars that write softwares require more than layman logic.
(compilers,operating systems, decompilers,anti viruses, interpreters, gps systems,
mail routing softwares, graph and network analysers
etc) do you write this type of softwares?

what i think is true is that even lay software can be quite complex to write  - talking of level of details here - but one who's learned the art of logical thinking can transfer that
skill to learning mathematics. with a lil more effort of course.
if you can programme very well,you should be able to pick up mathematics too.it will only take you  mor time but you should be able to learn faster than a non-programming noob. maths is kinda like programming in some respect.

correction:
software not softwares?

thought about it too
theyre programmers and there are programmers
too the lay man all code writers are programmers and they're right.
but some types of programmes require more maths than lay logic.
e.g
games - 3d games,
Artificial intelligence,
search ,distributed software
,low level softwares -

infact , softwars that write softwares require more than layman logic.
(compilers,operating systems, decompilers,anti viruses, interpreters, gps systems,
mail routing softwares, graph and network analysers
etc) do you write this type of softwares?

what i think is true is that even lay software can be quite complex to write - talking of level of details here - but one who's learned the art of logical thinking can transfer that
skill to learning mathematics. with a lil more effort of course.
if you can programme very well,you should be able to pick up mathematics too.it will only take you mor time but you should be able to learn faster than a non-programming noob. maths is kinda like programming in some respect.

yeah , i got it.
problem be how to get it over to you.
got 1 of em -

i code in bouts.

given a programming problem.
i'd spend say -- 50 percent of time - doing idle browsing. ebooks,articles etc.
(this is a distraction i can't shake off)

>> writing test codes -- testing concepts. (the main research aspect is done here)

>> time away from the computer - thinking on the problem.
(cracking the logic ) this is the fun but abstract part.
i find it far easier to code a solution if i've cracked the logic to it.
write out the logic sequence - i don't use uml or flowcharts - just
english and my own diagrams.

>> debugging -- this is the pain in the arse -- debugging makes actual
coding time seem like peanuts.

>> skivving - going for days /weeks without coding again.
[wanna break this habit too ]

given 10hrs of electricity.

coding (test codes,debugging,integrating) -- 4hours
idle browse -- 4 - 5hours
thinking -- 1hr

Programming really is for the young;
--------------------------------------

Any programmer of repute i know of began programming young. Some of the best programmers began at a very early age- say age 5.

It is said that tiger woods is  a better golfer than jack nicklaus because of  the age factor - tiger started earlier and that affected his swing.

With programming as with singing and acting - the earlier the better.

I may be wrong, but the statistics are on my side.

bill gates - early starter ( from primary school)
authors of google - early starters+college education
engineer of apple computers (early starter) - steve wozniak+college education
face book - early starter+ college education
youtube - (early starters : no idea here)+ college education
mozilla programmers - early starters lots of them
word press - early starter

Early, early, early. If you have an interest and start late. well,statistics don't lie. Also the trends are set by the young!!

Something about the age factor or what but most social software are written by people at that age in time on the streets (or campus/hostel/dorm)  with their peers and know the beat so they can code the feel out and place it on the net.

And most infoprenuers i know of leave the coding aspect early to focus on business . those on the job eventually move up (and away ) from programming.

So its like there is a time to code and not to code - start young retire early.

for some "programmers" its understandable- someone pays the bill.

but what of others- with 1 hour average electricity a day?
(2 days- blackout,1 day on(3 - 5hours)).
living in a place where there is no gen running-this is naija not
yankee! - or where the gen doesnt run as often as u need it?

how do u code when ur pc is often off?
not the blue screen of death-
the black screen of powerlessness.

programmers' they say don't have a life-apart from the pc.
but to hug the machine-the machine must be running.
how do u get addicted when nepa won't even let u boot into the OS?!

how many languages are there in Java?
------------------------------------
java is an enormously popular language - the language
that made programming accessible for non sadists- c and c++ and assembly types.
but to know java u need to know other extra tools besides the language
. some have steep learning curves even to the established java developer.

e.g java swing- java swing library is large-its philosophy is simple but swing is language 2 after core java.

> frameworks:
-------------
if u want to do java u might as well face the truth,in the real world after u close that textbook, java programming means- frameworks.
infact other programmers use framework names to intimidate juniors.
heard of Pojo,hibernate, heard of apache.org?

after sun.com,make apache.org ur next home

Ant - a build tool. it has its own language,

the problem with java is - it doesnt get easier as u climb higher?
i mean- there is always some new tool to use and put in ur classpath.
its not consistent in philosophy?

see.
u learn jsp,then servlets,then ur a web developer right?

if it were php u were learning - yes!

but in web development with java-u never write jsp's by hand.
u use a framework? so why all the jsp and servlet learning.
a mind shift to learn the framework-not java's - philosophy ensues
then u'r done.

ok.
u learn jdbc for persistence.
u roll up your sleeves to write jdbc code-drivers in place.
but no- u don't ever write jdbc direct.
why?
u use a framework?
and u have to learn that language-the frameworks syntax and philosophy- to get going.

and so on and so forth.
visit apache.org.
u'v got many frameworks to learn.

and many files to download.
yes java is popular but java is the most expensive language to use?

jdk download- many mb's.

eventually,u can't just use an editor-why?
many third party platform's expect u to use - an editor?

e.g google android expects u to use eclipse-nothing else will do.
so u roll up your sleeves and wait for eclipse download to complete
then u begin learning - anoda language- the editor language:eclipse

oh,
the other platform wants - not eclipse but netbeans-
so.
buy 20 hours on a slow internet connection and wait for eclipse to download , and pray the download completes - use a download manager.

then , get netbeans tutorial- um u thought netbeans download came with all the tutorials bundled with the download? ur dreaming- go online
if u want to learn this language-the editor language- netbeans.

now java is popular. but java programmers are always on their toes?

learning anoda new language and philosophy.

compare this with other - old school ,not too modern language,
the syntax is straightforward and consistent.
after u've learnt the main core syntax- nothing else is forced on you,
other frameworks and platforms are 3rd party stuff-u pick and chose.
e.g
c++ has no idea of an ide, u can settle for microsoft's c++ editor
or use open source stuff- nothing down ur throat.

c++ has no gui- u can settle for qt,or whatever u like that's ur cup a tea. no frameworks that u have to learn all month.
there's enough in core programming computer science to keep a developer busy all his life besides programming frameworks and learning
but with new hot shiny languages like jave ,its the reverse,
they are new hot toys and frameworks on apache to keep you busy all ur life-at the end of the day,the science of computer science would be long gone to you.then how do you sharpen your thinking edge?
throug - frameworks!! visit apache.org!

why novice programmers should be encouraged to re-invent the wheel
--------------------------------------
i read a lot of programming books that tell people not to do
the wheel reinvention.
in my opinion.
sometimes beginning programmers should be allowed to 'reinvent the wheel'.
actually the analogy doesnt follow.
the wheel ,as a circle,is perfect,u can't make a circle "more rounder
than it is!!" but of course there is no "perfect software" yet.
if there were, microsoft wouldnt be in business.
xp was better than or an improvement over windows 98 which was a big leap forward from windows 3.e or so (correct me about this version here)
and so on.
they even rewrote their old api ,apple did the same thing too,
so reinventing the wheel is a part of the software world.

don't write software u can download . why not.
writing a software u love is a way of proving ur programming mettle to urself and maybe others.

e.g
some novice programmer may decide to try measure his muscle by rewriting some popular software he's heard about - if he succeeds,
even though he could have easily downloaded it from the net,he'll feel
good about himself.
this wouldnt have been so easy if he had to dream up the challenge first before tackling it.by pitting himself against something popular he'll be able to prove his worth to others.
so ,sometimes reinventing the wheel is good.
besides if one has fun writing software that he could have downloaded freely whats wrong with that-having fun doing sth - the harder way.

then,sometimes by trying to reinvent the wheel the programmer comes to
appreciate the amount of thoughtfulness that went into some of the applications he formerly took for granted and after he survives the ordeal, after many months of having stubborn bugs haunt him,he won't need somebody telling him to desist from re-inventing the wheel that can be downloaded from the net.

without this experience his mindset might not have changed for the better . it still boils down to being given the liberty to - do it again,his own way.

are u going to b programming at an advanced age?
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there are some occupations where age is what matters not what u know
i'd like to think I.T isnt so but i think that would be wishful thinking based on what i see.
e.g
u can find a 60 year old judge,lawyer,accountant,lecturer,
landlord ,business man.
but u can't find a 50 year old web designer-not in nigeria i mean.
at that age --- it would even be repulsive to contractors .
and i think same thing goes for programmers . so
what happens to those who would still love to programme at such ages.
like i read on the net- in other countries the age bias isnt so strong
i've read of successful programmers who still love to code 30 years after they've been programming professionally.
i read of a 60+ year old game designer on wikipedia. and they may b many more whose names havent made the limelight.
i read on yahoo of man who graduated from high school at the age of 91
i'v read of grand mother's i mean - age 70+ graduating from college
but i don't think in nigeria that 91 year old man would fulfill his ambition cuz - he'd be "too old or too big" to go sit down with " juniors in class " and so he'd prefer to die an illiterate!!!

Actually i think this society has a way of retiring one by trying to tell you how u should behave.

i think maths and the sciences have a way of intimidating people with their funny names. like Al-gor-i-thms, Log-a-rithms.
what does algorithms mean-big sounding name? - simple. a way or process of getting something done.
Mutex lock- what that?
logarithms - means 'power' and people,non-mathematicians would exclaim when they finally find out that that big name means just what they've known for so long - "power" - like in ten raise to "power" 2 is 100. so , i think many programmers have implemented advanced algorithms without necessarily knowing the fancy name it comes with!!
yeah. and many programmers have ventured into scientific realms without necessarily grokking all them academic books and talking in deeper tones.
for example-if a programmer has written a chess playing program and a game of ayo then- most certainly he has implemented an algorithm- he may only later find out that its - what's the high sounding name again - minimax or such.
i beleive this is the case.
for example.
i read of von neumann and his contribution to game theory,it was interesting,i read of the minimax theorem . hmm nice but it didnt make sense to me. just interesting verbiage.

then i though writing a game of tic-tac-toe would b fun.well' i had some days on my hand before travelling away so i set to work on it.
well, i didnt know i was doing minimalist AI, nor did i know i was implementing minimax.i just knew i had to imbue the computer with enough intelligence to match any human player-i had to give it some smarts.
same thing happend when my trusty scientific calculator battery died and as u all know the calculator that comes with windows is not algebraic - now i had been learning programming for 2 years ,i knew of while and for loops and had tabled into php and html and web designing and css i was well spread but shallow but i thought it would be good to fix the calculator problem so i dont embarrassed when i have add up numbers ,foolish me i didnt even check the net for scientific calculators , i just set to work picking my way through ,writing little test codes until - wow- i saw the logic that could order the expression and make computation in an algebraic manner and no!- it wasnt a stack based solution . i had a book on algorithms and all i got was stack based i couldnt understand it so i wrote mine.i still don't know what the name is,its not post fix or prefix nonsense-it just works and - its fast.
so - why the examples - just to score the point that many many "pragmatic" programmers out there would not only be writing
algorithms they'll b inventing algorithms to solve problems- some wouldnt even know of it by its scientific name- if u've solved a complex problem they certainly u've used a pile of algorithms .
i'll upload the codes stated if anybody wants to take a peek at it.
and tell me what algorithms i used.
in my opinion- if any programmer can reason from the general --> to the particular-he'll discover a whole lot of algorithms on the way . and all programs - have a lot of "from general to particular logic " in them.

befitting house for a possible kleptomaniac!! - and this undisciplined treasury looters are thinking it nothing!! - i just dont get it. this is not funny- at all!!
at a time the nationally leaders should be liquidating their - after all,stolen wealth, to
help build the nation - more is being syphoned - not to build a BEFITTING police force that can fight crime to the stand still - but a house.
roof,sleeping room,living room,kitchen,toilet ,backyard- total=N7 * 10 raise to power 9!)
not to build - world class befitting universities- but a house for 1 man.
what's befitting about the standard and prospect of living for the common man in nigeria anyway.
being a nigerian is the hardest job any one on planet earth could be recruited into.
kai!! naija don baje.

having a 3rd class can b better than having a 2.2! cuz when u succeed people are always gone say - he had a 3rd class and yet he's so successful etc.
its like the comback kid thing.nobody says he had a 2.2,or 2.1 and he's so
, it like duh-oh. but with a 3rd !! boy - u bring down the glory .
the alternative is get a first class!! - yeah,people will duff and say-wow!! he made a 1st class. its all about how u play ur part in the movie of life!!
and when its all over,like the nigerian russia match - where nigeria came from
a 4 -0 down position to win,u'd have enjoyed the show. so - enjoy this suspense time
in the movie of ur life.
its happened b4, a typical example is joseph in the bible!!

what is the basic core of knowledge that every programmer needs to possess to be called a developer.
opinions vary ,but i don't thnk knowing a particular programming language is it.
I know there a bit of maths involved but how much.
what else ?
what should the man standing before me applying for a job possess to get the good mark?