Subject: Re: Competent programmers (was Re: is Lisp used in text parsing and processing tasks?)
From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.no>
Date: 13 Nov 2002 19:06:30 +0000
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
Message-ID: <3246203190473740@naggum.no>

* Barry Margolin
| A programmer who can't learn new languages easily, while not necessarily
| incompetent, is at best mediocre.

  Does this apply to other things?  Is a furiously fast and accurate typist
  on qwerty, if not necessarily incompetent, at best mediocre, if unable to
  switch to a dvorak layout?  Is an author of great intellectual prowess
  and much acclaim, if not necessarily incompetent, at best mediocre, if
  unable to switch to a very different language?  How trustworthy is a
  doctor of law or medicine who can easily change specialty?  Would you
  take your pet to a veterinarian who boasted that he could learn a new
  animal easily?

-- 
Erik Naggum, Oslo, Norway

Act from reason, and failure makes you rethink and study harder.
Act from faith, and failure makes you blame someone and push harder.