WolforthJ (3/28/2012)
There are just too many things wrong with this article to address. I can't argue that the perception that programming is dead is true, and I can look around at fellow programmers and see why. I see my job as getting business people tools to collect, then get to, their data. If a pre-packaged tool can do that cheaper than I can by writing code, that's great. Many coders, dba or otherwise, see those pre-packaged tools as a threat. That's where they shoot their own foot because if they worked with those tools, they would be seen as valuable members of a team, instead of people tyring to protect the job they learned to do 20 years ago.Academia probably needs to change too. If I were starting a project that I knew would take 4 to complete, I would have to plan on technology changes that would occur in those 4 years. I don't think schools look ahead like that.
The article does not discuss if programming is dead, offcourse is not dead and I doubt will die, always there is something to be programed. I use 3rd company tools to speed up my job, Telerik in VisualStudio, RedGate on SQL, SMSS Tools to write TSQL and many more. But these tools are a way to get to my goal, not a goal on themselves. Many selfcalled programmers copy/paste a couple (o thousands) of lines taken from a forum, add some fancy comments and...tada! jobs is done...but once they try to do something little bit different then "sorry, I can't find on internet what you need to do' or 'this can not be done'. That is why programming is not dead and will not die.
That is why some college is not so bad, it will settle the bases for the incoming years. You do not need to learn the last programming language, the last framework or the last tool to do whatever you want to do. You need to learn about algorithms, OOP, methods, structures, including mathematic skills that will save your *** many times 😀 That is why an academic course cannot change each year or each 5 years to adapt it to the last fashion in programming language. Take C/C++, learn from it, program on it, go as deep as you can, spend endless hour twiking and tuning everything and after that I assure you other languages will come as easy as ABC