From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!npois!houxi!houxf!kenig
Newsgroups: net.misc
Title: RE: Hacking as a pastime or programming as a profession
Article-I.D.: houxf.171
Posted: Tue Jun 15 16:18:26 1982
Received: Thu Jun 17 03:41:46 1982

A wise man once said:
         "FORTRAN is like dirty underware, it can get real comfortable if 
          it's all you've got to wear".

Look, anton (I mean Anton - UNIX is going to drive me nuts unless it quits
this UPPER/lower case nonsense) UNIX is just about as much bullcrap as TSO
is. Have I spoken (typed?) a sacrilege?
It has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the programmer/hacker.
I feel soory for you and many of my co-workers like you who are caugth in
the UNIX womb, and view everything in the world from a UNIX light. Do
you really think that UNIX is a be-all and end-all? If you do, might I
suggest that you have mentally joined the ranks of FORTRAN programmers (who
do it as a profession). What will you do when something better comes along?
Will you be able to recognize it? 
 
As a science we know less about operating systems and what makes them
effective tools than we do about programming languages and what makes for
a good programming language.  TSO,  TOPS-10, or even RT-11 could all be 
made to do the same thing (granted there would be more work in some cases).
None presents more than an esthetic improvement over the other when it comes
to getting the job done. Each runs FORTRAN, too.

One of the most important aspects of a hacker (in the good sense - heretofor
``haquer'') is the ability to have an open mind - to be able to work on
different systems, languages, and in different environments. A haquer does
not work in a vacuum (most haquers are sociable, affable, and like to help
others), and would mold themselves to working in a group. I did. Most of the
B.S. you pander about as professional style (be it from UNIX or anywhere)
simply strikes me as goddamned common sense. Who would want to incur the 
wrath of the people you see every dey, be they fellow employees or 
customers by not providing documentation with the code? Every human likes 
to show off cleverness, and in a large ``professional'' environment, this
(documentation) is one of the best ways to do it. Haquers learn. Quickly.
Use UNIX - if you think it's the best you've got. I use it when I think
it's proper - not due to a prevalent asthetic dogma. UNIX programmers
have a good tool, but I wouldn't want them in another situation< say
use COBOL to invert a matrix.

One last word (Gee I didn't mean to flame so long...):

However they manage to do it a good hacker - Haquer gets things done!