Re:How knowing Lisp destroyed my programming career (2006)
by jakelazaroff on Wednesday March 14, 2018 @09:44AM
(#16584663)
Sure, I'll concede all of those points! But I think they fundamentally change the question, because now you're presenting a different set of problems to solve.
Understanding one level of abstraction doesn't mean that you understand the levels above or below it. It's perfectly possible (likely, even!) that a team will have someone who can build a good Rails app and someone else who can make sure the HTTP code and infrastructure is secure, yet those people won't have many skills that overlap.
Yes, there are definitely good programmers and bad programmers. IMO, that has to do with how effectively you can solve problems you care about, not (as the comment to which I was replying suggests) the level of abstraction you're comfortable with.
Understanding one level of abstraction doesn't mean that you understand the levels above or below it. It's perfectly possible (likely, even!) that a team will have someone who can build a good Rails app and someone else who can make sure the HTTP code and infrastructure is secure, yet those people won't have many skills that overlap.
Yes, there are definitely good programmers and bad programmers. IMO, that has to do with how effectively you can solve problems you care about, not (as the comment to which I was replying suggests) the level of abstraction you're comfortable with.