[Info-vax] Python for x86?

[Dave Froble]

On 4/17/2023 3:00 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
> Simon Clubley  <clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP> wrote:
>> On 2023-04-14, bill <bill.gunshannon at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On 4/14/2023 1:46 PM, Simon Clubley wrote:
>>>>
>>>> My point is that Python has a major thing going for it in that it is
>>>> relatively easy to learn and use by people who are not professional
>>>> programmers or professional sysadmins.
>>>
>>> And if all there was to programming was syntax that might be a good
>>> thing.  But it isn't and having all these totally unqualified asses
>>> writing "programs" is certainly not a good thing.
>>>
>>
>> That is a totally out of touch and _extremely_ elitist thing to say Bill.
>>
>> We are talking about applications and areas that have skilled domain
>> knowledge experts, but who are not computer programmers. What you
>> appear to be saying is that these people are not allowed to use their
>> expertise until they become C or C++ experts.
>
> I don't think it is elitist or out of touch at all.
>
> 25 years ago, those skilled domain knowledge experts would be sitting down
> with a programmer and telling the programmer what they wanted, and the
> programmer would be saying things like "Would it be okay if we did it in
> THIS order because it would be faster?" and things like "If this value is
> zero, it's not going to work, so will this ever be zero?"  There would be
> a team with the programmer and the subject matter expert.

This is most of the problem.  The hackers, Ok, SME, don't consider anything 
except what they want to do.

Another simple example.  A third party accepts and stores credit card 
information, so vendors don't have to.  Some web designer didn't know how to 
query if the credit card info was already on file, so he just created a new 
credit card entry for every usage.  No problem for him.  But, when a capable 
person did an inquiry to see if the card was already on file, back came 
thousands of the same CC #.  Caused real problems, but not for the hacker.

> Now more likely we have SMEs writing code and I hate to say it but this is
> often a very very bad idea.  "It's okay, I can use Matlab for the database
> engine!"  I wish I were joking about that but I am not.
> --scott

Can be a very, very, very bad idea ...


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