APL Program Code Metrics

"Gosi" <gosinn@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:e384756e-f9e3-4b2c-83c7-c3d864f3688c@e53g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
On Jun 24, 7:33 pm, Rav <Pa...@cais.com> wrote:
> Gosi wrote:
> > Lets say you have two programmers.
[...]

> The best programmers are intelligent and lazy.
[...]
> If you are only lazy and not very intelligent you are probably not an
> APL programmer.

One important property for a good & productive programmer is to be a
robber, a smart robber.
Just like an intelligent robber he should ideally be crafty. Fastest
programming is done by trick & cheat.

On Jun 24, 8:33 pm, Rav <Pa...@cais.com> wrote:

> I worked at a place (an APL shop) where Programmer A, who didn't believe
> in testing his stuff and therefore worked somewhat "faster," ended up
> having to work a weekend making fixes to his code after an important
> site hit the bugs. Programmer B, who also worked on the same project
> but did test his stuff, didn't end up with any bugs to fix. Programmer
> A ended up being recognized for going above and beyond the call of duty
> because he sacrificed his weekend "for the good of the project." Even
> got a monetary award, I believe. No recognition for Programmer B.


Didn't whoever controlled the overtime budget think to ask why "A" was
working weekends? Did that just think hie has no social life? Some
metric might have helped to uncover the truth - such as "bugs per
week" in the developer's code - not all metrics are automatic, of
course, that would have to be compiled by someone other than the
developer - in whose interest it is to record "0".

I think think there is a place for metrics, but too rigid an approach
is like trying to compare someone filling in a tax return, all those
tick boxes & daft numbers, with someone trying to write a poem. You
can't judge by bulk or fixity of layout - the poem's probably a lot
shorter & the evidence of its production is largely invisible, but I
know which I would prefer to read.

Chris

"jk" <aqxqy@planet.nl (remove the q's)> wrote in message
news:4861e921$0$6012$ba620dc5@text.nova.planet.nl. ..
>
> "Gosi" <gosinn@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:e384756e-f9e3-4b2c-83c7-c3d864f3688c@e53g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
> On Jun 24, 7:33 pm, Rav <Pa...@cais.com> wrote:
>> Gosi wrote:
>> > Lets say you have two programmers.
> [...]
>
>> The best programmers are intelligent and lazy.
> [...]
>> If you are only lazy and not very intelligent you are probably not an
>> APL programmer.
>
> One important property for a good & productive programmer is to be a
> robber, a smart robber.
> Just like an intelligent robber he should ideally be crafty. Fastest
> programming is done by trick & cheat.
>

In our pensionfund we once had a COBOL programmer who was very fast.
Once when inspecting the source code we came across potatoes, leek,
carots ATL. Apparantly "copied" from the software of a grocery wholesale
dealer.

The second fastest way is trial and error, that is when using an
interpreted language like APL.

Next comes dismissing half of the staff of programmers. In that way you
force the remaining ones to work as twice as fast.