Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!att!pacbell!ames!indri!uflorida!gatech!hubcap!billwolf%hazel.cs.clemson.edu From: billwolf%hazel.cs.clemson.edu@hubcap.clemson.edu (William Thomas Wolfe,2847,) Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc Subject: Re: Being a consultant Message-ID: <6221@hubcap.clemson.edu> Date: 9 Aug 89 06:27:27 GMT References: <5595@ficc.uu.net> Sender: news@hubcap.clemson.edu Reply-To: billwolf%hazel.cs.clemson.edu@hubcap.clemson.edu Lines: 28 From article <5595@ficc.uu.net>, by peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva): >> OK; let's imagine. Student gets syntax error. [...] Student >> shows the program to the local Consultant [who] points out >> the obvious error. > > Ever been a consultant at a university comp center? I have. The next > stage, if the student is working in Fortran, C, or some other production > language (ADA wasn't around back then), is... % % Student comes back in 10 minutes with the same error. % or... % Consultant spends 10 minutes explaining error to student, and % maybe fails. Meanwhile 6 other students get tired of waiting... Yes, I've been a consultant (Purdue University Computing Center); however, I seem to have had a much easier time getting the explanation across. "Abstraction is the fundamental mechanism by which the computer scientist can combat complexity"; I would much rather consult for Ada than for a language in which it's not possible to show the student how to use abstraction to improve the probability that the software can be built without errors. Bill Wolfe, wtwolfe@hubcap.clemson.edu