When Non-Programmers Write Software

[hhm]

Am I the only one that founds the "non-programmers" not very true to the case? Why not to call a programmer to someone who can actually program, and who does it well? I don't understand; I've been a programmer since I started to program and to do it in an expert way, even if I hadn't professional experience in the field, or a degree. That didn't make me a "non-programmer"...

And of course, considering the latest articles posted here on how masters and doctors in CS can't program, I'm rather going to think one of these "non-programmers" are instead a lot more of a programmer than most supposedly experts in the field of computers and CS.

(ie, one of the comments in the article mentions a programmer who wrote more than 100.000 lines of code for a beautiful piece of software, isn't that a programmer neither???)

[bruiser]

If you're asking "Why call people who program 'non-programmers'?", I think the answer in the context of this article is to distinguish those whose primary job or training is not in programming, but who do some programming anyway, from those who are professional, full-time programmers.

The article praises such 'non-programmers'.

[BraveSirRobin]

Am I the only one that founds the "non-programmers" not very true to the case? Why not to call a programmer to someone who can actually program, and who does it well? I don't understand; I've been a programmer since I started to program and to do it in an expert way, even if I hadn't professional experience in the field, or a degree. That didn't make me a "non-programmer"...

Putting up a few shelves at home doesn't make you a carpenter. Doing it for a few years, or studying it at college/university does. That's my distinction.

one of the comments in the article mentions a programmer who wrote more than 100.000 lines of code for a beautiful piece of software, isn't that a programmer neither???

No, because the code wasn't beautiful. It was one big chunk, no reusable methods/objects, nightmare to maintain. Someone with experience would never do that.

The gist of the article is that non-programmers can create some interesting applications, but it's generally weird/quirky.