🚀 go-pugleaf

In <2dwy14c@rpi.edu> cougar@acm.rpi.edu (Erik Collin) writes:


>A friend and I were chatting and the question of how many people
>that own PCs do any of their own programming?  This question could 
>be answered in a number of ways depending on what you consider 
>"programming".  In this case lets define programming as the use of
>a language such as BASIC, Pascal, C, COBOL, Lisp and the like.  Things
>such as DBase don't count.  There is also the question of just who we 
>want to include in our group of users.  Should people like secretaries 
>who use a PC to do word processing and spread sheets be counted?  Should 
>people that are requiered to program (like students) be counted?  
>I dunno...

I wouldn't count out dBase if I were you.  Some organizations have paid me
very good money to write programs for them in dBase (in the thousands of
dollars).

What about macro writing for applications like Lotus, Excel, Word Perfect
or MS-Word.  Sure most user's just record a few keystokes, but I have
also seen a $50,000 package written entirely in Lotus Macros.

>Lets do this:  What percentage people that buy a PC of any type for home 
>use end up writing their own programs in one of the above mentioned 
>languages?  And, what percentage use a language other than BASIC?

>My guesses (I really have nothing to base this on):
>   all languages: 20%
>   all languages excluding BASIC: 10%

>Your guess?  Comments?  Flames?

My guess would be that less than 2% of the people who buy a PC type
computer for home use do any kind of programming more complicated than
recording a few keystrokes or writing a very simple batch file.  Most
cann't go beyond the menu system setup by the computer store or a friend.

-- 
If any given program runs correctly, it is obsolete.
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