Re:Ask HN: Explain to non-techies what you do: Programmer? D...
by mquander on Monday October 04, 2010 @01:54AM
(#1754741)
Well, the stereotype I was shooting for was someone who overarchitects things and who is really shackled to some particular set of concepts, methodologies, and tools; the sort of person who will go on implementing "factories" and "strategies" in languages and situations where they don't apply.
Personally, if I were tasked to explain that distinction, I would shorten (1) to "a good programmer" and shorten (2) to "a bad programmer."
Sounds to me like you saying that implementing a design pattern != good code?
An example of my bias is more towards something like this:
(1) someone with a CS background is more likely to notice and inefficient algorithm and know how to optimize it
(2) someone who just knows how to code in a language may not be aware of the presence of a suboptimal algorithm, much less know how to optimize it
How do you explain to a non-technical person the difference and importance between (1) and (2)? I guess it's going to be difficult, but I was curious if anyone was able to easily convey (1) or (2) in a quick short introductory pitch.