Basic Questions (was RE: Background)

[Rob Cozens]

>I suggest that new users are not critisised but encouraged to
>participate, I am not so arrogant as to realise I may learn something
>new myself.

Well put, Gary.

I couldn't agree more.

And let me point out, at least for business applications programmers 
such as moi, the broader one's knowledge, the more valuable one is to 
one's clients.

Over the years I have customized accounting or operational software for:

An auto parts manufacturer
A polymer manufacturer
General contractors
A drywall contractor
A metropolitan police department
A pension fund investor
A stock broker
A neurosurgeon
A new age music publishing company
HVAC contractors
An accounting software publisher
A door & trim manufacturer
A publisher of self-instructional training materials for the banking industry
A mushroom farm
Port of Vancouver USA
The Canadian Public Health Association
A bakery
A wholesale food manufacturer & distributor
Several wineries
and others I can't think of at the moment.

These people want software engineers who can apply their technical 
knowledge to the real-world problems of their specific enterprise AND 
to interface with the users in a knowledgeable, good humored manner.

If a system designer can't converse in the language of the user, 
his/her system is NOT going to succeed...at least I've found it to be 
the kiss of death where ever I've seen the situation come up.

So if one is planning to write Compilers, O/Ss, or some other highly 
technical aspect of programming, perhaps one can stick one's head in 
the sand and say "I don't want to hear or talk about anything but the 
principal subject of the list."

But if one is designing software for people in the real world beyond 
IS, one should, IMFO, embrace the opportunity to learn about that 
real world and, perhaps, to sharpen skills in establishing a 
good-humored dialog with people one "works" with on a day-to-day 
basis.

Cheers!
-- 

Rob Cozens
CCW, Serendipity Software Company
http://www.oenolog.com/who.htm

"And I, which was two fooles, do so grow three;
Who are a little wise, the best fooles bee."

from "The Triple Foole" by John Donne (1572-1631)