What is Digg?144 Comments
- trghpy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+40 If something needs to be done properly:
1: Get the team together and discuss the best way of solving the problem. Then break it up and give each piece based on people's strengths.
2: Do it yourself.
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Heh. I had a job where I did all the work because it was easier to have the group socialize than fix their work.
*sigh* never work for the gooberment. - Anpheus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+31It's worse that their last question has a terrible code sample with excessive commenting and that the practices used in it lead to it being difficult to debug if employed in a larger program. For example, if you change ""5+6=%d" to "6+6=%d" your answer remains 11, so you have to find where 5 and 6 are being used elsewhere. The idea of creating a function whose purpose is to add two integers is laughable, when you have the + operator, which is really just a function, staring you in the face.
- d03boy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+30This test was worthless. It was basically asking me what my result should be. Those questions correlated directly to the results. Lame.
- shadus, on 10/12/2007, -3/+28DLSC
D You're a Doer.
You are very quick at getting tasks done. You believe the outcome is the most important part of a task and the faster you can reach that outcome the better. After all, time is money.
L You like coding at a Low level.
You're from the old school of programming and believe that you should have an intimate relationship with the computer. You don't mind juggling registers around and spending hours getting a 5% performance increase in an algorithm.
S You work best in a Solo situation.
The best way to program is by yourself. There's no communication problems, you know every part of the code allowing you to write the best programs possible.
C You are a Conservative programmer.
The less code you write, the less chance there is of it containing a bug. You write short and to the point code that gets the job done efficiently.
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No real shock there. I'm a systems administrator by trade though and that probably affects my scores quite a bit. - dynacrylic, on 10/12/2007, -2/+25I'm a DHSB (Doer, High level, Solo situation, liBeral programmer).
Isn't that just a polite way of saying I'm a "script kiddie"? - gmiley, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12I know what you mean, I *DO* work for the gov, we have committees to head up committees to propose options for considering changes to the system... like finally changing the Year data column from varchar(4) to int (*sigh* left over stuff from the mainframe days).
- codemonkey420, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12DLSB, low level, fast coding, liberal with comments! It's pretty dead on - scary.
- Wisgary, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12That last code sample is just stupid. Really stupid, both choices SUCK.
Edit: Like Anpheus, said, + already does the ridiculous job the guy wants to do on that last code sample. The fact that the + operator uses infix notation instead of prefix like regular functions doesn't change the fact that it's still a function. Stupid. - merr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Kind of neat, but I feel like there should be more questions. Also, I find that each question could use more options. I found that most of my answers fit somewhere in between the provided options or that my answer would be different depending on the situation.
- kenjura, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9"Question 4:
Who is a 'better' programmer?
* Someone who went to university/college and has at least a masters in their field. They should read as many books on a subject as they can find before starting on it.
* Someone who has been coding since they were 5 and simply goes by raw talent alone."
Oh, come on! What kind of loaded question is that? That's like when MSNBC has its political polls:
"Should we send more troops to Iraq?
* Yes! We need a permanent presence in the Middle East to defend freedom!
* No! We need to pull out and completely abandon the Middle East to its own devices!"
Some middle ground on these extreme questions might be nice. - PleaseBeSerious, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8AWOL. Maybe I should change jobs?
- erinspice, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Um, no. 1 implies an genuine desire for the program to be fully readable and understandable by others, while 2 implies a disregard for ease of maintenance and comprehension by anyone other than the original author.
- rickcarson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Not a script kiddie.
Script kiddies wouldn't bother with comments and white space and making their code readable.
H is for high level - for instance if you use Java, you would spend your time subclassing objects, creating objects to subclass and thinking about the relationships between objects. Whereas if you were a low level programmer in Java you'd spend most of your time trying to _avoid_ writing good OO code - either by turning everything into a Singleton, overdossing on frameworks and spending your life twiddling XML, or using one of the plethora of technologies that is there to 'save you' from having to write Java, because Java is 'too hard'. Eg JSPs.
There really are two distinct trends in Java. In the past I would have characterised them as "the people that get OO" vs "the people that don't get OO". Or "simplifiers" vs "complicators". But it may come down to something like this - different personalities leading to different approaches.
An alternate way of describing it would be how people view elegance. Some people think that elegance and obscurity go hand in hand... that by somehow eliminating those couple of extra keystrokes that their program has become more elegant. If someone looks at their code and doesn't understand it, it simply means that person is 'not smart enough'. Whereas others (myself included) view elegance as being akin to obviousness. That is, to do something really clever, but in such a way that anybody looking at it understands and appreciates the cleverness - if you can just about see the lightbulb going on over their head, then you've hit the elegance sweet spot.
Or... some people code to create puzzles, whereas other people code to solve puzzles. - MrPig, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8
Your programmer personality type is:
DLSB
You're a Doer.
You are very quick at getting tasks done. You believe the outcome is the most important part of a task and the faster you can reach that outcome the better. After all, time is money.
You like coding at a Low level.
You're from the old school of programming and believe that you should have an intimate relationship with the computer. You don't mind juggling registers around and spending hours getting a 5% performance increase in an algorithm.
You work best in a Solo situation.
The best way to program is by yourself. There's no communication problems, you know every part of the code allowing you to write the best programs possible.
You are a liBeral programmer.
Programming is a complex task and you should use white space and comments as freely as possible to help simplify the task. We're not writing on paper anymore so we can take up as much room as we need. - Fedge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6DLSB
I'm not really suprised. Coding is an art despite what many will tell you. - KirinDave, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6This quiz is awful. So much of it is asking, "What silly shortsighted prejudice do you want to admit to adhering to."
For example, look at question 5:
"Which is the 'best' way to program? (a) In assembly or straight C. I'm in complete control of what the program's going to do. (b) Java or any .net language. Why waste valuable time on memory management and re-inventing the wheel when someone's handled it for you!"
The correct answer is, "I use whatever language lets me most effectively address the problem, with consideration for my team." The silly false dichotomy presented here is so laughable, it could only have come from a college student.
Another foolish question is question 3:
"Where do you spend most of your time? (a) Moving registers around or doing pointer arithmetic (or creating functions) (b) Drawing UML diagrams (or making objects)".
Again, wtf? Object creation is equated with UML? Register manipulation is equivalent to functions? Does this person even know something besides a poorly done OO-contender?
Talk about a slow news day. - dhirschl, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7DLSB here.
- gnatinator, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6For what it is, the test is good.
But a number of the answers could go either way depending on the details of the real life situation. - Feanor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6printf("%d + %d = %d", firstParam, secondParam, returnValue);
Whats the use of making a function like that if all you're going to do is assign static values when you print it anyway? - Wootery, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Yeah. Question 8 :
"The 'perfect' language will:
Allow anybody in the world to program.
Allow me to make the best use of systems resources."
The perfect language would do both, obviously... that's why it would be 'perfect'.
Same for Question 5 (the 'Assembler or Java?' question.)
Java and Assembler are apples and oranges - you wouldn't write a web-site back-end in Assembler, and you wouldn't write a game engine in Java. That question makes no sense. - Klowner, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Agreed, using Question 5 - What is the 'best' way to program.. My choices are basically low/mid level languages, or high level languages. It's a silly question because my decision for choosing a language is based on what kind of problem I'm attempting to solve, not a personal preference.
And I'm a PHSB - Dunadan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Yeah I got DLSC as well and although I've never taken the real myers-briggs I get either INTP or INTJ on all the online ones I've done. I'm fairly certain I'm actually INTJ though as the description for INTJ people fits me perfectly. Oh and send me that code, I'll bet I can take off even more time than that. ;)
- Philluminati, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6
PHTC
High level, team, coder.
The last choice was easy. It's always the first one.
Commments like
//return the value
return value;
are just redundant. How is that helping anyone? It's just making the code more complicated than it needs to be. - kingkilr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I got a 500
Error :) - Wootery, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5"Question 12 is biased toward the simple implementation"
Yeah - forget the comments, the not-simple "5+6=11" program is bloated.
Why would you write a function for addition? That's what the '+' operator is for! - MrKite, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I hate hiring someone that ends up being a 'Doer'. Sure, the job gets done quicker but the code ends up being higher maintenance and not very expandable, so in the end, the quickness gets canceled out by struggling with maintenance.
A 'Planner' is the way to go. Slower, but more efficient and little to no maintenance. - 2000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4DHSB FTW!
- ngandy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5DHSB
- SwellGuy007, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I just looked at my pay stub. It says position: programmer. Test not needed.
And at least half the people on digg are GLBT - AshWii, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4same here
- bpapa, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Eh, those questions all seem to be asking "are you a 'hacker' or a 'software engineer'?" over and over again.
P.S. don't get mad, I'm not saying that being a 'hacker' is any better or worse than being a 'software engineer' - erinspice, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4DLSB too, but this test was poorly implemented. Most people's answers would be different in every situation. Question 2 is baised toward liberal commenting. Question 9 (You've been given a task to do that will take one man month, how big is the optimal team?) is horrible. You can't create an effective schedule without knowing every piece of the puzzle. You can't divert resources effectively without knowing where they are coming from. Question 12 is biased toward the simple implementation. Take this test with a grain of salt.
- ostracize, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6This is useless. Different responses apply for different situations.
Depends on what you need to program, and make decisions on the best way from there. - Kethinov, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I'm an internal server error! :)
:( - Gizza, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3 "Who is a 'better' programmer?
Someone who went to university/college and has at least a masters in their field. They should read as many books on a subject as they can find before starting on it.
Someone who has been coding since they were 5 and simply goes by raw talent alone."
Well, i picked 2 because thers a good chance he would be a better programmer. But i would much rather work on a project with the first guy. He's more likely to be a better software developer.
"Question 6:
Approximately what % of a project should be spent in planning?
~25% - The best way to complete a task is to plan as you go.
~75% - The more planning, the less code you need to write. By the time you code, you should simply be filling in stubs."
How big is the project? If its something that will take a month probably answer is 1. If its more like 2 years the answer is 2. - dougsnell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3But would you spend an hour answering a few hundred questions like a full Myers-Briggs analysis? ;)
I also fell in-between a lot of questions, so I found it easier to answer which type of programming I would prefer to inherit. On that last question I wanted the first kind of coding. Simple and clean enough that I can read it and figure out what you're doing.
I think the second example is why I decided to not get into programming as a career. - trollick, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5DHSC
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3That's why the instructions specifically mention that you should choose the one that is closest to what you think. Obviously you probably don't agree with either of the extremes, so which is closer? Is school more important or is talent more important? Is reading books more important or do you prefer to 'just figure it out'?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3DLSB here too.
- nandasunu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3PLSB
There should be more questions though, not the best test..
and for those who are picking the code example, its just to illustrate a point... I am sure no-one is creating a new function just to add two numbers together... - PleaseJustDie, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4DLSB
- tvh2k, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I'm a DHSB, but I wasn't always. From experience you learn that high-level languages save you tons of hassle, and comments can save you 10 hours trying to decipher an ex-employee's work.
- SwellGuy007, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Fewer Mac fanboys :P
- daborg, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Yep. Freak!
- BrewmasterC, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2A lot of the questions didn't fit my style. I do 60% of my development in Ruby and for the stuff that needs to be optimized in C.
- gmiley, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Your programmer personality type is:
DLSC
You're a Doer.
You are very quick at getting tasks done. You believe the outcome is the most important part of a task and the faster you can reach that outcome the better. After all, time is money.
You like coding at a Low level.
You're from the old school of programming and believe that you should have an intimate relationship with the computer. You don't mind juggling registers around and spending hours getting a 5% performance increase in an algorithm.
You work best in a Solo situation.
The best way to program is by yourself. There's no communication problems, you know every part of the code allowing you to write the best programs possible.
You are a Conservative programmer.
The less code you write, the less chance there is of it containing a bug. You write short and to the point code that gets the job done efficiently.
---
I guess that sorta fits in with being INTP. Now that this is out of the way I can get back to optimizing this line of code, it's running way too long, I'm sure I can shave about 0.002 ms off of it. - heavyal, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Adding two static numbers is stupid. Even in a procedure that uses such a thing you'd probably be adding two vars rather than static ints in which case maybe something like this would be more useful .. i guess its similar to the second answer in the last q, but all those comments makes the question misleading.
function returnsum(x:int;y:int);
var
i:integer;
begin
i := x+y;
return i;
end;
Delphi is cool. Too bad its not used more often. I like strong typed languages.
oh, incidentally I'm a dlsb .. lame test though - Mirag3, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Your programmer personality type is:
DHSC
You're a Doer.
You are very quick at getting tasks done. You believe the outcome is the most important part of a task and the faster you can reach that outcome the better. After all, time is money.
You like coding at a High level.
The world is made up of objects and components, you should create your programs in the same way.
You work best in a Solo situation.
The best way to program is by yourself. There's no communication problems, you know every part of the code allowing you to write the best programs possible.
You are a Conservative programmer.
The less code you write, the less chance there is of it containing a bug. You write short and to the point code that gets the job done efficiently. - shadus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2My personal guess would be most programmers under 25 would get DHS* and most over 25 would get DLS*
- cloroxman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Jesus, I wouldn't want to work with half of the people commenting in here, ESPECIALLY the guy who doesn't comment his code. I also think most of you are taking those examples to literally. I think most of the examples were just trying to relay a point.
oh by the way... PHTB -
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