Lots of programmers have picked up their knowledge as they go along,
and some of them are very bright bunnies indeed.
It's entirely possible that, by sheer coincidence, I said this exact
thing both earlier today (or yesterday, but in a different time zone)
and also exactly six years ago, but it seems more likely to me by far
that Spinny's guessed the year wrong.
But there's a more significant error, which is the attribution "(with pride)".
So far as I can tell, this is pretty much guaranteed to be in error, as
my brain does not appear to generate the experiences usually referred to
by the word "pride" (or by the word "shame"; at least I'm an equal-opportunity
sort). I am neither proud of, nor ashamed of, the coincidence that I never
happen to have taken a CS class. It has sometimes been a bit of a nuisance
in terms of trying to get my job done, but then, the degree I *did* pick
up (psych) turns out to have been, arguably, more useful to me. (I also
did most of math and philosophy degrees, and have no regrets about either.)
It probably would have been useful to pick up CS, and certainly I did pick
a fair bit up by osmosis and exposure.
Mostly, though, I mentioned it because it was funny to me to see speculation
that my background came from having taken only advanced CS courses. The
selection of errors (the assertion that AP classes are universally not
comparable to "real" college classes, the assertion that it's having only
overspecialized advanced CS training that causes people to disagree with
Our Hero, etcetera) was astounding, and it's rare that a single datum can
disprove so many theories at once.
A rare recognition and admission of error on your part. Well done for
both, but it's a solitary glimmer in a very dark sky.
That said, I do have to concede the point -- clearly, he is capable of
admitting at least one error.
(BTW, is his poll lyrics from something? 'cuz if not, it totally should be.)
-s
