Domain Knowledge or a Lack Thereof

Re:Domain Knowledge or a Lack Thereof by hef19898 on Friday February 22, 2013 @08:44AM (#5264146)

I didn't read it as a stab at nerds or young programmers but more like an advice that domain knowledge still is important beyond pure programming skills. Maybe the comment was formulated a littel bit over tthe top, but well, I'm doing that quite regularly.

I completely agree that the world is running on software right now, but the world isn't software ITSELF (well, not yet).

On the other hand, people being cracks in there field claiming that there field is the only one that counts are just arrogant. No mater if they a programmers, accountants, mech. engineers, doctors, car mechanics or what not. And yes, software written by people without the slightest idea of the purpose of said software tends to be not so good.

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Re:Domain Knowledge or a Lack Thereof by irahul on Friday February 22, 2013 @10:01AM (#5264471)

> without the slightest idea of the purpose of said software

In the OPs specific example, the purpose of the network is to carry packets, and your job is to make sure packets are delivered. Whether they carry orders to launch nukes, or donations to charity isn't the purpose.

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Re:Domain Knowledge or a Lack Thereof by Sandman on Friday February 22, 2013 @01:10PM (#5265614)

The point is that you need to be well acquainted with the problem that you're trying to solve. If you're developing a new network protocol then yes, you don't need to know what kind of information is going to flow through the network, you need to know about network protocols. On the other hand, if you're developing a business application then you better know how that business works.

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