Re^2: OT: The mythical man month - have we learned nothing?

A "dictator"-type programmer might indeed code faster, but then he has coded his very own ideas, which might not be your or the client's ideas. So what good is a project which gets done "under time" but is not what it is expected to be?

I'm a great believer in the Extreme Programming paradigma but for lack of co-programmers I'm necessarily trust into the role of the "Dictator". Fortunately, most of the programs I write are for my own use, so the Dictator's and the client's ideas coincide!

CountZero

"If you have four groups working on a compiler, you'll get a 4-pass compiler." - Conway's Law

Comment on Re^2: OT: The mythical man month - have we learned nothing?

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Re^3: OT: The mythical man month - have we learned nothing? by zentara (Archbishop) on Feb 20, 2006 at 22:55 UTC
*Fortunately, most of the programs I write are for my own use* Yeah, I'm the same way. I think most programmers are writing for themselves, and their own projects. The other problem with the "dictator programmer" is that he may not always do it the BEST way. When more minds look at a problem, the best solution tends to float to the top, like cream. Just like perlmonks. :-) I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth. flash japh	[reply]
Re^4: OT: The mythical man month - have we learned nothing? by swampyankee (Parson) on Feb 21, 2006 at 21:44 UTC
At one of my former employers there was an anecdote about a "dictator" programmer (I think "hermit" may be a more accurate term). The story is this programmer was assigned a fairly long, complex task (iirc, analysis of a helicopter rotor in hover). One of the requirements was that this program run on a CDC 6600 or 6700 (which model doesn't really matter). After several months of great demos and the programmer's wonderful progress reports during development on the company's IBM 360 mainframe, the programmer said it was ready for delivery. He showed the managers his code. It was in IBM assembler. The company had to return a fairly large chunk of cash to the contracting agency. And, no, it wasn't me. It was before my time there. In any case, I was sensible enough to realize IBM assembler won't work on CDC machines roughly 1 week into my first programming class. emc " When in doubt, use brute force." — Ken Thompson	[reply]
Re^4: OT: The mythical man month - have we learned nothing? by EdwardG (Vicar) on Mar 22, 2006 at 12:15 UTC
It's not just cream that floats.	[reply]
Re^5: OT: The mythical man month - have we learned nothing? by zentara (Archbishop) on Mar 22, 2006 at 12:21 UTC
Thats true, but then again it depends on what you are swimming in. :-) I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth. flash japh	[reply]


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