Yep - I've seen it in course work I've set in the past - random walk
through the arrangement of symbols in the language (it was a process
algebra work and proof system to check deadlock freedom).
... but ...
Haskell even helps those people - if you've created something that
works (and you are at least sensible to create a test suite be it
regression or property based) - then there is more confidence that
they've coded "a" solution (if not a good one).
Haskell raises the value of formality (both ecomomically and in terms
of its caché) - changin the mindset of the "masses" - creating the
meme - that's tricky. Especialy if they're really off the B Ark!
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/hitchhikers/guide/golgafrincham.shtml)
Neil
On 18/04/07, Michael Vanier
R Hayes wrote:
On Apr 17, 2007, at 4:46 PM, David Brown wrote:
R Hayes wrote:
They *enjoy* debugging ...
I have to say this is one of the best things I've found for catching bad programmers during interviews, no matter what kind of system it is for. I learned this the hard way after watching someone who never really understood her program, but just kept thwacking at it with a debugger until it at least partially worked.
I've seen this too, but I would not use the word debugging to describe it. I don't think I agree that enjoying debugging is a sufficient symptom for diagnosing this condition. There are many people that love the puzzle-box aspect of debugging. Some of them are very talented developers.
R Hayes rfhayes<>@reillyhayes.com
Dave
I agree with the latter sentiment. I call the "thwacking at it" approach "random programming" or "shotgun programming", the latter suggesting that it's like shooting at the problem randomly until it dies. I prefer not having to debug, but when I do have to I find it fun (up to a point).
Mike
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