Kimberly Blessing is a computer scientist, a Web developer, a standards evangelist, a feminist, and a geek. This is where she writes about life, technology, women's issues, and whatever else comes to mind.
Posted June 22, 2008 at 12:32 AM EST | Categorized as Space
Did you know that there are only ten flights left in NASA’s space shuttle program? It’s true. STS-124, which landed back on June 14, was the 123rd shuttle flight and the 35th flight of the Discovery vehicle. The next flight, STS-125, will be in October 2008 and will be the final Hubble servicing mission. The shuttle fleet is due to be retired in 2010.
With all of these “final” events taking place, it makes me sad. I grew up with the space shuttle and I never lost the sense of awe that I had for the spacecraft or the astronauts — if anything, with greater access to NASA in the past decade, my understanding, respect, and admiration has only grown. Still, looking forward to March 2015 — the current estimate for when the Ares and Orion vehicles will be ready for initial operation — I’m excited about Constellation. I only wish that more people knew about the program.
What many people do know about, however vaguely, is the Astronaut Selection process. What you may not know is that the application process for the 2009 Astronaut Candidate Class is accepting applications through July 1! This class will support the International Space Station (ISS) Program. Apply online at usajobs.gov — search for “astronaut”. Oh, and in case you weren’t aware, frequent travel may be required.
Yes, I wish I were talking about Hillary! But I’m not.
Instead I’m talking about the ACM elections, and the woman I’m referring to is Wendy Hall, CBE, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton, Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the British Computer Society, co-founding director of the Web Science Research Initiative, and (if you couldn’t tell) one of my role models. So the votes have been counted and, come July 1, Wendy will also serve a two-year term as President of the ACM. Congratulations!
And speaking of GHC, I also need to mention that registration for the 2008 conference is now open! After so many years of attending, stalking Telle Whitney, and volunteering, this year I’m finally going to be speaking on a panel! (Go me!) So, don’t miss this opportunity to interact with thousands of smart, successful, techie women — including Fran Allen!
Software programmer Sara Chipps (yay! a woman!) has written an article titled Natural Programmers (Code Monkeys) vs. Career Programmers (Geeks in Suits). It’s probably the best non-techie explanation of the behaviors, habits, and beliefs of the “natural programmer” that I’ve read — and yes, I completely identified with much of what she wrote.
However, I have to take a step back and address an issue that I have with the two types of programmers she defines and the names she assigns to them.
First there’s the “career programmer (geek in a suit)”. These days I find that career programmers are not geeks, and they’re definitely not in suits (always business casual!). I’ve found that they’re in programming for the money; they learn enough to do their work — perhaps well, maybe even to get to the point of being perceived as geeky. But I also find that these people lack a true passion for the craft of writing code. Sara suggests that the career programmer is more of a business person, concerned with cost effective solutions, but I’m not even sure that’s true anymore. To me, this person’s work is just a job, and if flipping burgers paid as much as programming, they might be doing that instead.
Like Sara, I fall into her other category of “natural programmer”. But I am certainly not a code monkey — I am a code ninja! (Actually, with a nickname like “Obi-Wan Kimberly”, I’m probably a code jedi, but anyway…) I find the term “code monkey” to apply more to the previous category of programmer. Why? “Code monkey” implies that anyone can do what we do and that we work for bananas. “Code ninja”, on the other hand, says that we’re stealth and secretive, jumping out of the darkness when you least expect it. Our code takes you by surprise in its brilliance and our swiftness of execution is legendary. We could do no other job because we have trained for so long, perfecting our natural talent, and nothing else can satisfy our need for control over the systems we affect.
Sara closes her article with some OR logic about which type to hire, however I need to propose a more detailed and different solution. If you have only one programmer working for you, you probably don’t want either of these types — you need someone who really does fall into the gray area between the two extremes. (Yes, they are out there!) And if you have a team of programmers, you need a mix of these two types, and you need to put effort into getting them to communicate effectively with one another. Only then will you have both a killer team and killer code.
Five ACM experts have contributed to the twelfth edition of Deborah Morley’s college textbook, Understanding Computers: Today & Tomorrow. One of them, Chandra Krintz, Vice Chair of the ACM Special Interest Group on Programming Languages, answered the question, Are programming skills necessary to be a Web site developer today?
Yes, more than ever. Web sites today are dynamic, interactive, complex, and highly adaptive to appeal to the specific and changing needs of the individual users and consumers that constitute today’s competitive commercial markets and popular Web communities. Programming languages have evolved to support existing and emerging Web technologies. Developers today must be able to use effectively a wide range of high-level programming language technologies, such as Java, AJAX, Ruby/Rails, Python, ASP.Net, and PHP, and to adapt quickly to new languages, frameworks, and practices. Programming expertise enables developers to implement efficiently dynamic Web page content, as well as the distributed and layered systems through which Web pages interact with databases and other back-end applications. In addition, strong and marketable programming skills today include team-based work styles and pair programming, test-driven program deployment, agile workplaces, and use of visual and interactive development environments. Programming skills are key to the success, productivity, and satisfaction of today’s Web developers.
Devo sues McDonalds A McD's toy sports a Devo hat, which happens to be copyrighted and trademarked. "We don't like McDonald's, and we don't like American Idol, so we're doubly offended."
Bill Gates bids a teary farewell to Microsoft "There won't be a day in my life that I'm not thinking about Microsoft and the great things that it's doing and wanting to help," said Gates, who wiped away tears as the group of employees rose to give him a standing ovation.
Scientists: Nothing to fear from atom-smasher CERN scientists point out that cosmic rays have been bombarding the earth since the solar system formed. And so far, Earth has survived.
