On Tue, 14 Jun 2005 12:49:27 +0200, Peter Maas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Depends if you wanna build or investigate. > >Learning is investigating. Yeah, after thinking to this phrase I've to agree. Sometimes learning is investigating, sometimes it's building. Since I discovered programming I've spent most time just building, but I started on a quite concrete floor (assembler). Sometimes, for example when I recently dedicated some time to functional languages, it's more investigating. Functional languages is not something I've used extensively, I've no real experience with them... and at least at the application level for me is pure magic. I mean that I can understand how the language is implemented itself, what is just amazing for me is how can you build a program for a computer - an incredibly complex state based machine - with a language where state is not your guide but your enemy. >Don't nail me down on that stupid string, I know it's immutable but >didn't think about it when answering your post. Take <some mutable >replacement> instead. Forgive me, I didn't resist :-)... it was such a juicy hit. But this very fact shows that when programming you cannot just skim over the details. You can only avoid using the conscious mind to check the details if you are so confident with them to leave important checks (like actual praticality of a solution) to your subconscius mind. That strings in python are immutable it's surely just a detail, and it's implementation specific, but this doesn't means it's not something you can ignore for a while. If you use python this is a *fundamental* property. That deleting the first element of a list in python is a slow operation is also a detail and very implementation specific, but ignore it and your programs will be just horrible. Often when I think to a problem I find myself saying "oh... and for that I know I'll find a good solution" without actually thinking one. I *know* I can solve that problem decently because I've been around there. I do not need to check because my experience tells me I can first check where I want to go from there first because getting in that direction is not going to be a problem. Without this experience and conscious or subconscious attention to details you'll find yourself saying "oh... and we could go over there" pointing at the sun and then blaming your "technicians" because there are a few little "details" that you didn't consider. Andrea -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
