7 Jan
2012
7 Jan
'12
8:38 a.m.
On 6 January 2012 09:23, Tor Arntsen <kspt.tor at gmail.com> wrote:
On Thu, Jan 5, 2012 at 17:56, Ethan Dicks
<ethan.dicks at gmail.com> wrote:
It's just an English figure of speech: "one in a million" is a common
way of saying that something is very rare or unusual.
Certainly, several comments have indicated that - as a pure random
guess! - mine was a /very/ inaccurate estimate.
I wonder what a more reasonable approximation would be, for the
developed world? Perhaps one in a thousand?
And also, what sort of programming the majority of them actually do.
Whether it is scripting or relatively simple system automation, or
macro programming in apps, or actual full-on application development,
or what?
Is there, I wonder, a line as to where simple tools and simple tuition
for nonspecialists might be appropriate - e.g. BASIC for schoolkids -
versus serious techniques and methods for those expected to be
professional developers - e.g. Scheme for CS undergrads?
--
Liam Proven ? Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile
Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven
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On Thu, Jan 5, 2012 at 10:52 AM, Liam Proven
<lproven at gmail.com> wrote:
[..]
I didn't see the original post.. but yes, that's not accurate. With
one in a million there should be just 4 programmers in all of Norway.
And (I'm Norwegian) here we are about 50 career programmers in just
this one company I'm working in, which is in a small town (_very_
small by most other countries' standards) and we're not alone.. there
are several other companies in this town where programming and
software design is part of what they do. Can't talk too much for those
others, but we don't do web page design either, this is traditional
software development with numeric processing and data handling, mostly
under Unix (in the past) and Linux (now), and, before that,
mini-computers and their operating systems (their passing is one
reason I'm attracted to classic computing lists like these).
So I don't know where that one in a million came from.. I see similar
programming environments as ours when I travel elsewhere in the world,
and ours is just one of those industries out there where proper, good
old programming is required. Very *very* few people's careers are going to
involve programming
computers. One in a million, maybe, if that.
That is a gross exaggeration.