🚀 go-pugleaf

>|> IMHO software development is a high IQ activity that requires an equal mix
>|> of both creative and analytic skills.  Hardware development is a mid-level
>|> IQ activity that requires, almost exclusively, analytic skills.  Hence,
>
Sorry, couldn't let this one slip by unchallenged.

Your Humble Opinion is oatmeal on both counts.  Software development involves a
considerable amount of dogwork when it comes to actually writing code.  I've
had to write the same damn data structures multiple times for every langauge
I've worked in.  The only creative outlet is in the design phase, and even then
you have to conform to outside requirements.  Yes, software development may be
a little more 'artistic' than hardware development, but that's because software
"engineering" isn't engineering; it's voodoo, it's folklore, it's grand
theories and damned lies, but it ain't engineering.

I imagine the sensation is similar for wireheads; designing is a much more
creative and satisfying activity than actually building the thing.  And I
imagine that quite a bit of artistry is involved.  The book 'Hackers' (sorry, I
don't remember the author's name) devotes a portion of the book to hardware
guys like Wozniak.  These people constantly strove for *elegant* hardware
solutions.  These guys weren't unimaginative, artless solderheads; they were
artists (and I dare you to tell Woz to his face that he is only middling
intelligent).

Yes, picking on the Pentium is fun, but then, so's picking on Word 6.0.  Some
of the crappiest software runs on the best of machines.

John Bode
john_bode@tracor.com