Before you think of being a do-gooder...

[Brandon Sandrowicz]

>   1) Unlike bricklaying, or carpentry, or metalworking, etc, there  
> isn't
> a century or two of publications and knowledge handed down from
> generation to generation.  C and Java are two of the "oldest"  
> languages
> currently in major use for new development.  Stuff like Python, Ruby,
> PHP is almost brand new.  How many "centuries of practice" are  
> there for
> these languages?

Can we really compare the age of a programming language to the age of  
the profession?  I see the programming languages as 'tools of the  
trade.'  They may have their own quirks, advantages and  
disadvantages, but there is a lot of overlap.  I say that even people  
that were developing for Fortran or programming with punch cards were  
people that developed software development/engineering/design/ 
programming as a profession.  Things like UML and newer scripting  
languages, are just additional tools in the arsenal, and are part of  
the on-going development/evolution of the trade.  One could argue  
that IT is a younger trade than Software Creation (programming/design/ 
engineering/etc).


>   2) Be careful what you wish for.  A "profession" means that only
> "certified professionals" can practise it, e.g. medicine.  I remember
> back in the early 80's how some greybeards reacted angrily to the
> thought that snotty-nosed kids would be able to program on their "toy
> computers".  The old farts were *DEMANDING* that all programmers be
> licenced.  I don't know whether you'll laugh or cry, but take a  
> look at
> http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/12.09.html#subj5 back in 1991.  That  
> was
> about a bill that would require all "software engineers" in New Jersey
> to be licenced, for a *VERY WIDE* definition of "software engineer".
> The initial draft would've required every secretary or clerk who  
> created
> a Word or Excel macro to be licenced as an engineer.  Fortunately, the
> bill was eventually laughed out of the legislature.
>
>      Now imagine back in 1992, that it was illegal for a university
> student and a bunch of snotty-nosed kids to collaborate over the  
> net to
> write a new OS.  And even licenced programmers who attempted to do so
> would've faced discipline for "programming malpractice", because they
> dared to use a macro-kernel, when "everybody knows" that a micro  
> kernel
> is the holy grail.

It's hard to compare it to medicine and law to IT/Software Creation,  
because they are not really things you could take up as hobbies.   
You're not going to perform a heart transplant over the weekend, just  
for kicks.  Whereas you can program a Perl script to back-up your  
files and no one will care.

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