http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20030319/frontpage/23705.shtml[^]

Stupidity should be cured, says DNA discoverer [^]

Proxomitron is a good pop-up killer. http://www.proxomitron.org/[^]

Michael P Butler wrote: VS.NET isn't the best, but it beats everything else the competition has. Isn’t this sentence oxymoron?

Visual Studio.NET is terrible[^]:laugh:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2728149.stm[^]:(

java is 12 times fast than c++[^]:laugh:

I’m trying to decide what I should major in when I go to college. I enjoy programming and I think I will be happy doing it all my life. The optimal major preparing for a programming career is computer science. On the other hand computer engineering gives broader knowledge and prepares for developing both – software and hardware. Therefore it should make me more adaptable to an ever-changing job market. Will I have better chances of finding a programming job if I have BS in computer science or computer engineering? One thing that worries me is a huge supply of programmers in low-income countries. Currently many companies move operations abroad (mostly in India) and will continue doing that in the future. In the next ten years communications will become much faster and employers will be able to hire a worker in India over the Internet just like if he/she were sitting next to him. Are hardware developers immune to the aforementioned problem? Would like to hear what you think about that.

http://ace.delos.com/usaco/theknack.mp3[^] :)

I noticed that majority of geeks (including me) have at least one geeky parent. I'm thinking, is geekness innate and hereditary or is it environmental? Is it something encoded in DNA or something fostered by parents?

I’m just wondering, why the majority of programmers are men? Why there is so few female coders?

Colin^Davies wrote: All I can say is that over time I have seen the average programmer's intelligence lowered. That's exactly what I'm talking about. See my post below.

I'm asking because I'm observing the following trend - programming becomes less complex. 40 years ago programmers were top mathematicians. 20 years ago - pretty good engineers. During last 10 years, with invention of VB and similar programming environments, every ill-educated moron became able to develop software. BS is no longer required for majority of jobs. Everyone with high school diploma can go study in one of those "technical schools" for a year and be called "programmer". I thought for a while what does it mean for a job to be complicated and came up with the following definition. Job complexity is the proportion of population unable to master the job. Since everyone can pick up a trash, complexity of janitor job is close to 0. Conversely, only few can do research in theoretical physics, thus complexity of this job is close to 1. Accountant would probably be around 0.5. Physician - 0.9. What is complexity of programming according to this definition?

Are programmers really as smart as they claim? Does programming require high intellectual abilities? What is IQ of an average programmer? IMHO, programming doesn't require much math and science skills except for mathematical modeling. Intellectual abilities required for coding are lower than those required for such fields as engineering, science and medicine. What do you think?

I'm thinking of becoming a programmer. I'm considering advantages and disadvantages of this profession. The following things are often cited as disadvantages: 1. Health risks. Spending a lot of time with computer damages vision, develops RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury) and increases incidence of cancer. 2. Volatile job market. When economy goes down programmers are first to be laid off. Cheaper foreign H1B programmers (Indian, Chinese etc.) are often hired instead of natives. Constant inflow of foreign programmers generally decreases wages. Moreover, many companies move operations overseas where programmers are getting paid much less (average salary of a programmer in India is $250). Economists say this trend will continue as world becomes more globalized and communications improve. 3. Negative opinion about programmers. Programmers are often perceived as nerdy, asexual, socially inept, having no interest except for computers. Programmers have troubles finding a girlfriend. Are these disadvantages true? Would like to know your opinion. Thanks.