Re: web-based software & OS programming
BigBrian wrote:
Victor Bazarov wrote:
Pure C++ knowledge will only get you a job doing language-specific
tools like compilers or memory managers or debuggers/profilers. For
any other kind of software you're better off learning the actuall
application area rather than any language in which the job can be
done.
I disagree with this. If the application is going to be implemented in
C++, you need to know the application area AND the language. How do
you know you're implementing it correctly if you don't know the
language? I've gotten several jobs because they had an
application/system written in C++, and I knew C++. I've working on
software used in aviation, financial services, national security,
video compression,... Learning the application area is much easier
than being proficient in C++, and typically companies will teach you
the application area if you know C++ first.
I think I must have misspoken since you didn't understand the point I
was trying to make. Think priorities. Learning the language _without_
learning the field is pointless IMNSHO. I didn't mean to say, "instead
of learning the language". So, I am not arguing the "AND" portion of
your post. I am arguing what comes first.
If the application area is very specific (something nobody is taught
at school), I'd expect the employer to spend some time training me if
they see some value in me even though I got no special knowledge of the
field. If the application area is very generic (like [G]UI), then no
_particular_ knowledge is required, or, rather, everybody can do it.
As soon as you get into a not-so-generic-and-not-overly-specific field,
you are supposed to know the field quite well. That's the difference
between system programmers and application programmers.
V
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