[Beowulf] Re: "hobbyists"

[Karen Shaeffer]

On Fri, Jun 20, 2008 at 02:41:42AM -0400, Robert G. Brown wrote:
> 
>   c) some mix of mentoring by a guru and working your ass off.  A bright
> and motivated person can teach themselves C, but I'll be damned if I
> think that they can teach themselves to code C >>well<< in less than
> years of painful mistake-driven lessons unless they have a guru or some
> other way of learning some of the simple wisdom that makes it possible
> to turn out decent, readable, code.  And even with a guru and working
> quite hard, it still takes years, just fewer years.

Today it is very straight forward. The 2.6.x linux kernel is an exemplary
body of superb C programming code. All you need is motivation and a network
connection. And the linux kernel email development lists have hundreds of
programming guru's pontificating and standing on soap boxes daily.

Thanks,
Karen
-- 
 Karen Shaeffer
 Neuralscape, Palo Alto, Ca. 94306
 shaeffer at neuralscape.com  http://www.neuralscape.com