[vcf-midatlantic] OT: people don't understand computers anymore

[Bill Sudbrink]

Neil Cherry wrote:
> I'm a bit old school, can't quite understand how
> those in computers can't understand the underlying
> principles of the computer (hardware and software).
> But along those same lines we're abstracting so
> much of this that we don't need to understand it
> that well.

It's a bit astonishing to me too.  We get job candidates
with CS degrees from reputable universities who don't
know what a register is, can't explain how basic sorts
work or why you would even want to know.  In my opinion,
the most evil phrase to come out of a software engineer's
mouth is "I don't want to have to think about...".  Yup,
it's all abstracted away.  You get a "container class"
with "iterators" and "find" methods and you're all set.
Not fast enough?  Throw more hardware at it.

This is raising my blood pressure... gotta stop.

Bill S.