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by Tansin A. Darcos (TDARCOS) 04/18/2012, 1:07am PDT |
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Joel Spolsky, who does the "Joel on Software" blog, mentions how there are two type of programmers. Those that understand pointers - a very rare subset - and the vast majority who do not. And when he interviews people for programming jobs, he can tell the difference.
I mean, I was programming in Pascal for decades and even though I used record pointers, straight out of the book, I never really "saw" or "got" them. If I had had to do a different type of linked list than a straight single-link I'd never have been able to do it. Then one day I was doing a program and the scales fell from my eyes and suddenly it clicked. I understood what pointers are and how they work.
I just recently wrote a cross-reference program for Pascal programs, in Pascal, that stores the identifiers in a set of chained linked lists, in alphabetical order. Everyone except me that I've seen write one of these uses a tree structure and they traverse the tree recursively. Since I get pointers, I simply follow the list, then insert the new item. I've written the only Pascal identifier storing procedure in alphabetical order that does not use recursion. Every other program I've seen - more than 1/2 a dozen - all do it recursively using a "left link - right link" tree structure. Probably because they don't understand how pointers work and just have to use the examples given in Wirth's book defining Pascal.
There are a lot of people using languages that either do their own management of data or don't allow pointers (Java, PHP, Visual Basic, etc.) that a lot of people who would be writing programs have no idea how to use pointers.
I went to school at Long Beach City College. Jim Cashman was the instructor for the COBOL class, and it was his textbook we used. I went to Midland College in Midland, Texas for a few months back in the 1980s, and they were using the same textbook, Cashman's. I really impressed the instructor for the class when I mentioned that I knew Cashman personally (and he knew me) because I'd taken classes from him.
The interesting thing was Cashman's book on Assembly language tells how to use a flag such as to indicate when something is to be done such as at end of file. What was noted that Cashman's book tells how to set a flag, it never tells you how to clear it! |
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Jesus Fucking Christ. People. by Oom Shnibble 04/17/2012, 11:10pm PDT 
Context? by Entropy Stew 04/18/2012, 12:57am PDT
Re: Context? by Oom Shnibble 04/18/2012, 1:43am PDT
I have some news for you, Om by Tansin A. Darcos (TDARCOS) 04/18/2012, 1:07am PDT
Um by Fullofkitttens 04/18/2012, 5:14am PDT
This is correct. You're a much better programmer than TDARCOS by Entropy Stew 04/18/2012, 8:26am PDT
Oh, and storage space is also increased by Entropy Stew 04/18/2012, 8:36am PDT
Using a tree structure is an overcomplicated method, at least now by Tansin A. Darcos (TDARCOS) 04/19/2012, 10:22am PDT
You're a disaster by Entropy Stew 04/19/2012, 1:06pm PDT
I forgot to mention your insane touting of this as a better approach vs trees NT by Entropy Stew 04/19/2012, 1:35pm PDT
Actually, I know what I'm doing. Do you what you are doing? by Tansin A. Darcos (TDARCOS) 04/19/2012, 7:43pm PDT
Your data structure is analogous to a hash table with 27 buckets by Entropy Stew 04/20/2012, 1:02am PDT
Re: Your data structure is analogous to a hash table with 27 buckets by Tansin A. Darcos (TDARCOS) 04/20/2012, 5:43pm PDT
Get dunked, son by Entropy Stew 04/20/2012, 9:26pm PDT
Re: Get dunked, son by Tansin A. Darcos (TDARCOS) 04/21/2012, 2:28am PDT
Oh Jesus I get it now. by The Happiness Engine 04/21/2012, 9:02am PDT
Oh, it's just a really shitty skip list, then NT by Entropy Stew 04/21/2012, 9:26am PDT
There's more than one way to implement a hash table by Entropy Stew 04/21/2012, 10:40am PDT
His data structure is analogous to 27 buckets of shit. NT by Orange Devil Bat 05/12/2012, 9:13am PDT
hey tansin by jeep 04/21/2012, 6:10pm PDT
Re: hey tansin by Entropy Stew 04/22/2012, 6:07am PDT
Re: hey tansin by jeep 04/22/2012, 8:10am PDT
you would not believe the fucking scrub phds I've been handed to work with by jeep 04/22/2012, 8:19am PDT
PhD is the rubber stamp indicating either greatness or utter uselessness by Entropy Stew 04/22/2012, 10:18am PDT
I've learned to avoid the master's ones altogether by jeep 04/22/2012, 6:36pm PDT
Re: hey tansin by Tansin A. Darcos (TDARCOS) 04/24/2012, 1:53am PDT
Re: hey tansin by jeep 04/24/2012, 5:57am PDT
What is Pascal and why it is used by Tansin A. Darcos (TDARCOS) 04/19/2012, 9:31am PDT
Pascal is a terrible tinkertoy dead programming language. NT by Too boring, didn't read 04/19/2012, 4:26pm PDT
Pascal/Delphi by Oom Shnibble 04/19/2012, 11:34pm PDT
Also (Mini-rant) by Oom Shnibble 04/19/2012, 11:44pm PDT
Re: Also (Mini-rant) by Dangerous Dave 04/20/2012, 7:20am PDT
The schools around here (Big Ten) start with Python then go to C++. by Fullofkitttens 04/20/2012, 7:39am PDT
Re: Also (Mini-rant) by Tansin A. Darcos (TDARCOS) 04/20/2012, 6:22pm PDT
Re: Also (Mini-rant) by Dangerous Dave 04/20/2012, 9:37pm PDT
Re: Also (Mini-rant) by Entropy Stew 04/20/2012, 10:40pm PDT
Re: Also (Mini-rant) by Tansin A. Darcos (TDARCOS) 04/20/2012, 5:54pm PDT
Re: Also (Mini-rant) by Entropy Stew 04/20/2012, 9:44pm PDT
Re: Also (Mini-rant) by Tansin A. Darcos (TDARCOS) 04/21/2012, 4:24pm PDT
Corection, I mean "one block of 511K free" in above article NT by Tansin A. Darcos (TDARCOS) 04/21/2012, 4:24pm PDT
That's just a smart allocator. Even C has them by Entropy Stew 04/22/2012, 5:32am PDT
It's still automatic garbage collection by Tansin A. Darcos (TDARCOS) 04/24/2012, 2:00am PDT
No it isn't, you ignorant motherfucker. How can you be wrong so often? by Entropy Stew 04/24/2012, 3:46am PDT
So you really think insulting someone is going to get them to listen to you? NT by Tansin A. Darcos (TDARCOS) 04/27/2012, 5:37pm PDT
Pretty sure he's serious about the ignorant part, maybe even the mother fucker! NT by Worm 04/27/2012, 6:04pm PDT
I never fucked my mother. She charged too much. NT by Tansin A. Darcos (TDARCOS) 05/10/2012, 6:07pm PDT
OH GOD HIS FEELINGS NT by Entropy Stew 04/27/2012, 6:36pm PDT
SPOILERS: He so fucked up the cheeseburger. It's amazing, you should check it ou NT by The Happiness Engine 04/27/2012, 8:53pm PDT
Re: Pascal/Delphi by Tansin A. Darcos (TDARCOS) 04/20/2012, 5:34pm PDT
What the fuck does this have to do with pointers? NT by Entropy Stew 04/18/2012, 8:44am PDT
Re: What the fuck does this have to do with pointers? by Ice Cream Jonsey 04/18/2012, 9:07am PDT
Exactly right, Jonsey, you nailed it! by Tansin A. Darcos (TDARCOS) 04/19/2012, 10:32am PDT
I got yer back, Commander. NT by Ice Cream Jonsey 04/19/2012, 11:55am PDT
Counterpoint by Ray of Light 05/06/2012, 1:49pm PDT
HAHAHAHAH by Entropy Stew 05/06/2012, 5:35pm PDT
Re: HAHAHAHAH by jeep 05/10/2012, 6:41pm PDT
also I hope you mean I don't sound like I went to school for cs by jeep 05/10/2012, 6:42pm PDT
Neither did I NT by Entropy Stew 05/10/2012, 8:16pm PDT
Your degree is in scare quotes! NT by We Miss QB 05/10/2012, 8:33pm PDT
I did! NT by Scot Thompson, ex-Yahoo CEO 05/14/2012, 2:38am PDT
Oh please, this has nothing to do with application development by Tansin A. Darcos (TDARCOS) 05/10/2012, 6:44pm PDT
Well I definitely feel safe now *hands over millions of credit card numbers* by Entropy Stew 05/10/2012, 9:36pm PDT
Re: Well I definitely feel safe now *hands over millions of credit card numbers* by Tansin A. Darcos (TDARCOS) 05/12/2012, 8:43am PDT
You know less about security than you do data structures NT by Entropy Stew 05/12/2012, 4:11pm PDT
Hi, my name is Ray by Ray of Light 05/14/2012, 1:49am PDT
Re: Hi, my name is Ray by jeep 05/14/2012, 1:28pm PDT
TDARCOS: wrong enough to summon Ray back from 2fort by Entropy Stew 05/14/2012, 6:19pm PDT
Accessing one item at a time by Tansin A. Darcos (TDARCOS) 05/16/2012, 3:28am PDT
Context: it matters NT by Entropy Stew 05/16/2012, 4:04pm PDT
Part Two of this. by Oom Shnibble 05/25/2012, 9:19am PDT
Re: Part Two of this. by Tansin A. Darcos (TDARCOS) 05/27/2012, 9:51am PDT
What? Isn't the issue that you can't cast to an unrelated class? NT by Entropy Stew 05/27/2012, 1:34pm PDT
yes by Rafiki 05/27/2012, 1:58pm PDT
I don't get how TDARCOS understood it was casting, then failed to understand the NT by Entropy Stew 05/27/2012, 2:05pm PDT
I think I did get most of it by Tansin A. Darcos (TDARCOS) 05/28/2012, 10:57pm PDT
He is close enough for government work -nt- NT by Oom Shnibble 05/29/2012, 11:56am PDT
The Future of Perl NT by Kerr 02/21/2025, 2:37pm PST
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