<div dir="ltr"><div>Well, I'm in the U.S. I don't mean to paint with too broad a stroke here, but my comments reflect my own experience with development projects where people end up focusing so much on tools or trendy methods (like UML and the Rational Unified Process) that they don't stop and ask themselves what problem they're trying to solve. Here's an example: in HL7 (an application protocol frequently used in healthcare applications) there is often an implicit assumption that messages will be received in the order sent with no dropped or duplicate messages. That's often an appropriate constraint, but sometimes each message together with its acknowledgment is an independent unit of work, and there is no reason messages of a certain type cannot be delivered out of order. Now, message delivery can often be slow (as you can imagine it would be, given the stop and waith protocol being employed). I've suggested dropping the sequenced delivery constraint, or at the very least, allowing a send window of more than one message in certain performance critical applications. Now, I understand the importance of having a consistent architecture and of being able to use "off the shelf" software. But there are times when I just wish people could stop and think about the problem and consider a relatively simple software solution instead of investing in bandwidth with a new PVC (and note that bandwidth isn't evn the problem here, it's latency!) or investing in a product that isn't really needed.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Okay, I'll stop now (and wait).<br><br></div>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Oct 8, 2008 at 2:54 PM, Grant Rettke <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:grettke@acm.org">grettke@acm.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">On Tue, Oct 7, 2008 at 11:33 AM, Greg Woodhouse<br>
<div class="Ih2E3d"><<a href="mailto:gregory.woodhouse@gmail.com">gregory.woodhouse@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div>
<div class="Ih2E3d">> I'm sure that all has to do with the perception (perhaps valid) that knowing<br>> C is an essential job skill. But remember that these are first year<br>> students:<br><br></div>Since when do first year students get a say in anything?!<br>
<div class="Ih2E3d"><br>> What bothers me is that professional developers focus so much on tools and<br>> languages without really thinking critically about the problems they are<br>> trying to solve.<br><br></div>
Is this in the entire world, or just the U.S.A.?<br></blockquote></div><br></div>