18 Jul
2000
18 Jul
'00
5:42 a.m.
Tony Duell wrote:
I've met many programmers, including some _very_ good ones who
don't have any knowledge about hardware, who would be lost if
given a schematic diagram, and who don't own any electronic
test gear.
So? I picked software because the electronics component of 'A' level
Physics bored me rigid. However, I now write software for embedded
realtime systems, so I have to be able to read a schematic and use a
logic analyser. Oddly enough, the company I work for doesn't put
'software', 'hardware' or 'mechanical' in the job titles of its
engineers. I think the nature of the work demands individuals with the
curiousity to cross boundaries.
That's just _my_ career path, though. I can't imagine why a softie
writing commercial software for PCs would need these skills.
But I've never met a serious hardware
designer/hacker who can't
program in at least 3 languages, who doesn't have compilers installed
on his computer, who doesn't have books about programming, and who
doesn't know how to understand a source listing.
1. They know where the real fun is.
2. Hardware is getting softer.
3. There's a big difference between writing a program and engineering a
large software system.
No doubt I should have sprinkled some smileys in the above text.