Programmer Benchmarks

A 70s era bodybuilder (I can't remember who) once said, [sic]Lift weights, eat three meals a day, and take dianabol (a steroid), if you haven't put on five pounds by the end of the month, take up stamp collecting.

We have software benchmarks, hardware benchmarks, and even language benchmarks. But are there benchmarks out there for the people behind the code? e.g. If anybody takes a year to learn PHP, they really shouldn't be having anything to do with writing web pages. Or if someone claims to read/write C but takes two weeks to make a Python or Ruby file that calculates and displays all the prime numbers between 1 and 10^9 in less than 5 min. Either they didn't are a liar (didn't really know C), are really bad at math, don't convert from natural to machine language very well, and/or don't optimize code very well.

what?? 

If anybody takes a year to learn PHP, they really shouldn't be having anything to do with writing web pages.

Why not?

Or if someone claims to read/write C but takes two weeks to make a Python or Ruby file

Maybe it's because they know C, and not Ruby or Python...

Heck, if we're gonna get that picky, then the best programmers were the old mainframe era guys who could toggle code directly into the machine - without a flow chart.

Does anyone know what the OP is trying to say? 
Or for that matter what it's relevant to?

::: whispers ::: Shhh...I'm trying to humor him.   

<whisper> Okay. </whisper>

So how about those Argo's.

I see Doug Flutie played for the Argos for a year.  I thought he had a longer career in the Canadian League...he must have, to make the Hall of Fame.  He will with the NFL's Chicago Bears -- a long time ago.  He had much greater success in the Canadian league.

When in Chicago, he was nicknamed "Flutie The Cutie."     (The Bears are hard on quarterbacks -- they rarely have a line which gives good protection.)

(See, kids, that's the cool thing about the Internet.  If you don't know much about something, you can look on line, and find out more about it!  Then, you can at least give half a response to someone's question or comment, and you don't have to be like, *censored*? or  )

 

He had more than one year in the CFL.

He was with BC in 1990 and 1991 where he threw for a record 6619 yds.
He was traded to Calgary in 1992 where he won the Grey Cup.
In 1993 he was awarded the MOP(Most Outstanding Player).
In 1994 he had a record 48 TD passes.
He went to Toronto in 1996 and won the Grey Cup in that year and the next.
After that he went back to the NFL.

In fact he was the MOP for each and every year of his CFL career.
Truly a remarkable athlete.

[Web moderator]

If anybody takes a year to learn PHP, they really shouldn't be having anything to do with writing web pages.

Anyone figure this out yet?

Anyone figure this out yet?

I put it through an on line translater, it didn't help much though.  I can't read Cyrillic.

I have no idea what it means

[Web moderator]

Drat... Let me know if you crack it.

The OP is saying, basically, that if it takes that long to learn it, they aren't very good.

this fairly certainly proves that the OP hasn't learned a programming language either. They aren't using the proper metrics. Muscles and body-building are a little different from language parsing.

How long did it take to learn english after being born? 2-3 years for most people. Huh, I guess we all have no business speaking.

a programming language is a way of expressing what you want the computer to do, just as Human languages are a way of expressing ideas. We are always adding to our language skills, as we increase our vocabulary/ So too is learning programming a constant experience. It's not a matter of learning the constructs and semantics of a programming language, but rather of using those constructs and semantics to express what you want the computer to do, analogous to how learning the constructs, subject/predicate, grammars, etc of a human language in no way dictate or contribute to your ability to use that language to express your ideas accurately.

to revisit my touched upon point; body-building works on the muscles. a muscle exercises by simply expanding and contracting; there is no other action. as such you simply repeat the expansion and contraction motion to exercise it.

The brain, while often compared to a muscle, isn't "exercised" quite so simply. The brain is exercised, and this takes years. Language, Human or otherwise, are some of the most complicated structures to parse and understand; you can no more write a Ruby program after learning C then you could write a poem in Coast Salish after learning Hebrew.

Also, I must point out the erroneous use of the term "benchmark". Benchmarking applies only to machines. you don't benchmark people, you "test" them, and testing has a known margin of error, unlike benchmarking, which for the most part presents clearcut answers.

To summarize, the OP is an idiot.

The OP is saying, basically, that if it takes that long to learn it, they aren't very good.

A 70s era bodybuilder (I can't remember who) once said, [sic]Lift weights, eat three meals a day, and take dianabol (a steroid), if you haven't put on five pounds by the end of the month, take up stamp collecting.

We have software benchmarks, hardware benchmarks, and even language benchmarks. But are there benchmarks out there for the people behind the code? e.g. If anybody takes a year to learn PHP, they really shouldn't be having anything to do with writing web pages. Or if someone claims to read/write C but takes two weeks to make a Python or Ruby file that calculates and displays all the prime numbers between 1 and 10^9 in less than 5 min. Either they didn't are a liar (didn't really know C), are really bad at math, don't convert from natural to machine language very well, and/or don't optimize code very well.

To summarize, the OP is an idiot.

I agree

No, the original poster is not an idiot; he simply renders a poor argument.  He forgets there are no true benchmarks in bodybuilding, either.  I am also rather sure that there are plenty of successful bodybuilders of all levels who have not followed the advice given in the quote, either.