From: blockedofcourse@foo.invalid   
      
   On 2/20/2026 10:47 AM, Don Y wrote:   
   > On 2/20/2026 3:36 AM, Martin Brown wrote:   
      
   >> I can't be the only one to have seen shops where the journeymen are so   
   >> unskilled that getting C code to compile by the random application of casts   
   >> is the norm. Not written in C but the UK scandalous Horizon PO accounting   
   >> system was written by people of that calibre (thickness).   
   >   
   > Most programming problems that I see are the result of creating bad models   
   > of the problem being solved.  Then, having to "bugger" what should have been   
   > a clean, straightforward implementation to bend the model to the reality.   
   > Anyone can code -- especially as you can SEE if your code "appears" to work   
   > without having to make a big investment in time or material/treasure.   
   >   
   > But, moving from a single, self-contained application to an interactive   
   > service/agent seems to be a big leap; considerably harder than more mundane   
   > issues like multitasking (despite, IMO, being infinitely easier!).   
   >   
   > I'm trying to spend (waste?) hardware resources to improve the quality   
   > of the codebase -- especially for folks who likely have little/no experience   
   > developing such applications.  In the real world, how many folks have   
   > written web servers or other similar multi-client services, etc.?  Then,   
   > imagine the subset of those who have written agents!   
      
   By way of example, ask a "programmer" how he'd design a file service.   
   He'd likely see it as "get request, open file".  How many details   
   can you see missing in such a naive approach?  Any thought for   
   performance and how the design would impact that?  Any thought for how   
   the design would burden the hardware (and other services running on it?)   
      
   [This is actually an excellent "starter problem" for people learning how   
   to write servers as you can implement it on damn near ANY "computer" (even   
   those without network interfaces).  Having their ego bruised, thusly, they   
   MAY be more careful in thinking about how to convert that into an agency!]   
      
   There's a big step between single-session interfaces and providing   
   performant services.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)