Path: csiph.com!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!nntp.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc Subject: Re: OT: Does Computer Science Need Computers? Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2026 05:43:30 -0000 (UTC) Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 20 Message-ID: <117o7a2$3ta61$1@dont-email.me> References: <18d1ffe2a110b2ac$14913$961095$802601b3@news.usenetexpress.com> <117j2fv$24qgq$3@dont-email.me> <117m5qn$35vc1$5@dont-email.me> <117mdge$38gr6$7@dont-email.me> <117na6v$3kt55$2@dont-email.me> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Tue, 08 Sep 2026 05:43:31 +0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; logging-data="4106433"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1/Sso2iVi+/HjYdWQ1ahLn3"; posting-host="ef20a9338d6d1d04eb6ea70fc05fcf76" User-Agent: Pan/0.165 (Kostiantynivka) Cancel-Lock: sha1:o/33mrezdstb01XkSk7M705kufU= sha256:QOGjfQlgtLWk8x8EV2hbxDjVtca0D+5pQUG4EWgfcWU= sha1:+SZzQvxXfHPLQLSFWKDoAiA3tqA= sha256:GjYoq7ytGL3nTE5FqLiKA0l8gD/z8m4C4wxoHTn4QFA= Xref: csiph.com comp.os.linux.misc:91176 On Tue, 08 Sep 2026 04:18:38 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote: > I was lucky enough to work in small shops. I got the specs, then > designed and wrote the programs myself - all the while thumbing my > nose at the Structured Programming revolution, which I saw as the > culmination of bureaucracy's attempts to infiltrate every aspect of > our lives. In the real world, requirements change all the time. If you waited until the specs were completely nailed down before writing the first line of code, you would never get any code written. I think Fred Brooks mentioned how useful it was to both customer and programmer to get their hands on actual working code as early as possible in the process, even if it was only a partial implementation and possibly even completely wrong in places, because it was so wonderfully effective in focusing the attention of both parties on what actually needed to be done. I’m not sure it occurred to him to take the next logical step, and build an entire development methodology around that basic fact.