Date:         Thu, 7 Dec 2006 17:00:17 +0100
Reply-To:     SAS-L List <sas-l@listserv.uga.edu>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Robert Bardos <bardos2@ANSYS.CH>
Subject:      Re: Arithmetic Operations
In-Reply-To:  <7367b4e20612070723t1ca51b3xe73c9b0df95dfea5@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

data _null_ replied to my raising the question about the amount of
documentation necessary to grasp extremely sophisticated code:
>
  You are trying to make it harder than it is.
>
> I don't expect novice programmers to understand all the
> code they encounter.  I certainly don't, but I do learn a lot.
>


data _null_; (*1)

I'm talking from experience here. The last three years I've worked
as a consultant with highly valued SAS and z/OS skills at a
customer site. Within a team of five, all of them somewhat less
skilled than me. When leaving them one month ago (since the
company doesn't want to employ external consultants any longer) I
knew they would not even want to touch the solutions where I had
implented peek/poke. They will not even touch simpler things. And
if they do they most certainly will wreak havoc.
 My question was rhetorical, since I wasn't talking about me but
about the hundreds of literally poor guys and girls that get
shoved around in their IT departments 'cause some of their bosses
think: well they know A so they will know B as well. It is a mere
one day ago when I heard the same story involving another place
where we are doing consulting. People are being moved around and
all the little skills that they acquired is fading away. Others
follow them and start at close to zero.

Believe it or not these things are happening.

Robert

*1 upon re-reading I realize how inviting your nickname is to use
proper  semicolon delimited SAS syntax ....   =8)