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Re: XML-aware programming language?

• To: Michael Kay <mike@s...>
• Subject: Re: XML-aware programming language?
• From: Rick Marshall <rjm@z...>
• Date: Mon, 13 Dec 2004 23:10:17 +1100
• Cc: "'Michael Champion'" <michaelc.champion@g...>, xml-dev@l...
• In-reply-to: <E1CdmW1-0004km-00@u...>
• Organization: Zenucom Pty Ltd
• References: <E1CdmW1-0004km-00@u...>
• User-agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 0.6 (X11/20040502)

shared experiences....

i find that non-programmers take to non-procedural programming quite 
easily. but that's the issue isn't it?

a programmer by definition is a control freak - you enjoy being able to 
tell the computer exactly what to do and it does exactly what you told 
it to do, step by painful step.

non-procedural programming is more like management - "computer, i want a 
report that looks like this... try and get it done this afternoon.come 
back and see me when it's ready." controlling, but not control - delegation.

it seems to me this is a very big leap for most programmers, but 
managers don't even understand there's a problem...

rick

ps personal preference - xslt

Michael Kay wrote:

>>"Tim Bray declared that to understand XSLT you must first reach up
>>with both hands and grab the two halves of your brain peeling each
>>back until you have successfully turned your brain completely inside
>>out ...Are we all masochists???!!!" "
>>
>>    
>>
>
>The same was true, in my personal experience, of understanding goto-less
>programming, relational calculus, and object-oriented programming. The fact
>that something is conceptually very different from the way you have
>programmed in the past is not, historically, a barrier to adoption, provided
>that those who have made the journey are prepared to tell the world that it
>was worthwhile.
>
>Some people have reported that non-programmers, who still think that x=x+1
>looks like nonsense, find the concepts much easier.
>
>
>Michael Kay
>
>
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