🚀 go-pugleaf

> Lots of discussion already...

Ok, I'll bite as well.  I think in general it is an idea long overdue,
though I agree NJ's approach is much too vague to be useful/practical.
But someone has to get the ball rolling, and the discussion moving forward.

We all know computers are being embedded in more and more products, and
how do we know these computers are being programmed in a competent manner?
How about the recent X-ray machine, programmed by an individual with a
2-year degree, that killed 3 or so people?  And what about companies in
financial trouble trying to get a product out the door as cheaply as
possible?  There are no minimal standards that these companies nor
individuals have to follow -- I would hope there are some minimal standards
we could all agree on: you must have a design document, you must hire
programmers with a degree in CS (or have them take a language-independent
exam, along the lines of the GRE exam for CS), and you must test your
system and document your test cases.

Just because "most programmers have a degree in CS" doesn't mean we can't
REQUIRE a CS degree.  But that in itself doesn't mean much.  Better
would be an exam that tested basic skills in a language-independent way.
Or perhaps a suite of tests, one for Business programming, one for
scientific programming, one for systems programming, one for embedded systems
programming, etc.  These tests should be easy for anyone already competent,
so what is everyone (e.g. AT&T) worried about?

Obviously there are going to be problems keeping these tests up to date, but
that doesn't mean we shouldn't try.  The ACM would be a good organization
for such things, and has plenty of potential volunteers.  I would welcome
such testing, since I personally know far too many people who are not
competent programmers.  Yet it takes a programmer to know one, and 99%
of the public are not programmers.  Licensing would help that.  It won't
get rid of all the so-called professionals ripping people off who don't know
better, but then nothing ever does.

Just my $0.02 worth.  And yes, I happen to be from N.J. :-)

  - joe hummel

--
Joe Hummel
ICS Graduate Student, UC Irvine
Internet: jhummel@ics.uci.edu