On Thu, 27 Mar 2014 17:14:09 -0500, Mark H Harris wrote: > People want to use their computer. They want to solve problems with > it... and frankly, they would like to know how to program it, if there > where some royal road, or fast track, or short and easy tutorial.
Most people want to program their computer in the same way they want to crawl around under their car changing the grease and oil. People want to use their computer, but they would prefer the computer already have an app to solve their problem. Some will program only if that is the only way to get the computer to do what they want. Most won't even do that. If you ask the average Python-using biologist if they want to be a programmer, they will say something like "If I wanted to be a programmer, I would have done a comp sci degree. I want to be a biologist, and unfortunately having to program comes with the territory, like the other tedious jobs I have to do. I didn't do six years of college to wash test tubes or write code, but that's part of the job." > I know > lots of people that will sit down and try (with a cup of Java) and hack > it out if they have a good short book. There are seven billion people on planet Earth. If only one in ten thousand wants to program, that's still "lots of people". But in any case, we're not talking about people who want to program and are willing to read a book to learn. We are talking about this subset of people who want to program without learning to program, and in particular your insistence that they count for more than programmers who want to learn to program. [...] > Just look on the list: Fred Sells meta language request. He proves my > point entirely. If I were Fred, I'd probably be insulted by that. He clearly knows programming jargon, and can use it correctly, and he is talking about being pressed for time and short on management support, which most programmers can relate to. What reason do you have to conclude from *one* post that he's one of your non-expert non-programmer programmers? Apart from wishful thinking, of course. -- Steven D'Aprano http://import-that.dreamwidth.org/ -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
