[Sigia-l] Programming IAs was: Little things an IA MUST know/do

[Eric Reiss]

Ziya wrote:
Why would you avoid it, if your work involves it? I can't imagine
knowing it would make you less of an IA?

I never avoided it, I just never learned it, thank you very much. By
the time HTML came along, my work involved far less day-to-day
programming. Knowing HTML doesn't make me less of an IA - but it
doesnt' make me more of an IA either.

As Dave Heller wrote:
...you would end up in file 13 if you don't know HTML, that simple.
Call it silly but in today's market there are too many good people
who have the requirements I'm looking for.

This doesn't sound like you're out to hire an IA. However, this does
support my main point. There are LOTS of people who can write code in
their sleep. I hire them because I don't have the time or inclination
to do the code myself. My clients hire me for my strategic abilities
and couldn't care less about my programming skills. That said, I've
been around long enough to know how to communicate with programmers -
which is a very different issue - and I also know how computers work.

Does anyone even remember FORTH today? I used to be a whiz. Or Z80
machine code? Or 6502/08 for that matter? Or even Pascal? Why limit
your creativity to what you know can be done in any given programming
language? Think outside the box and THEN figure out how to make the
original box even bigger if necessary.

In 1979, people were amazed at what computers could do. In 2003,
people expect them to be able to do anything. So, let's make sure
they live up to these expectations. 

Cheers,
Eric
e-reiss aps
copenhagen, denmark