When I was 16, in high school I had access to the Tulsa University computer lab. My first coding was done in Fortran. That would have been in 1965!! And yes, I'm still coding! As long as there's a steady paycheck in it, I'll be doing it.

As and old time (seriously) C and then C++ programmer, I love Java. In fact I'm expending a large effort of time, not to mention dollars, to get my SCEA. I will be testing for SCJP shortly (Two weeks). All my career direction is toward Java now. Even if I do have to C# .Net at this time.

Fortran!

OMG, I bout fell out of my chair on this one. A Prophecy api... Brilliant!

I agree completely. If you have no idea how something works it can make fixing problems exceedingly difficult!

Trust me, he's complete!

It's interesting that we have the exact opposite view of what it is we think we are. LOL It may be that when I started, there were no developers, only programmers. While in high school in the late 60's I wrote my first FORTRAN programs. They did nothing but they did spark an interest. I became a mechanical engineer, primarily for the $$, however I continued programming my stress analysis in FORTRAN and gradually began to like that more than building amazing things out of steel etc. I now occasionally do electronic design, embedded coding, real time data collection from operating room instrumentation all while "architecting" financial solutions using SOA at a large life insurance company. I'm not boasting by any means. There is much I don't know. That's why I'm about to take a crash (8 week) course "Advanced Java Programming". Just so I can put it on my resume. (And take the official certification. You gotta know all the buzz words and acronyms.) In fact I learn something from every project I work on. I'm currently discovering Android development having just installed everything I need. No iOS for me, I've seen "objective C", it ain't C! Also there is that $100 here and there and you can only develop on a Mac. (You can run iOS in VMWare but it crashes if the app you're running wants to identify the Mac you're running on!) I am also proud of the fact that at age 63 I still have the urge to do this and learn more. Now that is the boast! LOL I'm going to destroy the Earth with my Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator! - Marvin Martian

I certainly agree that the coder was inept. On the subject of developer vs programmer. Even though my title is,"Sr Developer Architect" I consider myself a programmer. I'm as comfortable using VI and make as I am Eclipse or Visual Studio. Therein lies the difference to me. I feel the word developer connotes one who requires the modern IDE with all it's pop-up hints, which 95% of the time just get in my way. Then there is VI where one never has to take their hands of the keyboard to do virtually everything possible when it comes to the programming process. I live in both worlds in my efforts. Now all of that is entirely subjective observation so it's really not debatable. But I would be interested in your thoughts. I'm going to destroy the Earth with my Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator! - Marvin Martian

Ouch!!

These instances of code changes were not done by a programmer. A developer maybe, but not a programmer.

For Chinese characters I recommend getting the keyboard app Swiftkey X. I love it and it does have ability to do special characters of other languages. Also is seems to read your mind offering up potential words to continue your conversation.

Yep, I agree. Picked up a Motorola Triumph with a 4.1" screen. Best of both worlds. Unlimited everything for $55 per month unless you already have an account. I did and so I pay $40. I don't even think of getting a tablet now.

Data General 1401 as best I can recall. Had to toggle in a JPUN to kickstart the KSR terminal.

This code is not C. It could be C++ or Java. A string in C IS a character ARRAY and is not declared as string but as char[string length+1]. Try: if (arg1.equal(a)) { tp = counter; }

Well said!

I'm not misunderstanding anything. Of course it returns an int it is simply garbage therefore useless.

Well I didn't go into as detailed a explanation but the bottom line is the same... garbage for a return value.

If you define it as void nothing is returned. If you define it as int and don't "return" or "exit(something)" then it's going to be God knows what and totally meaningless. 8^)