At one time, I used to program in COBOL and RPGII at the same time...these 2 languages are as different from each other as you can get...both in syntax considerations as well as logic constructs/processes, but as Greg points out, 'programming is programming'. Ray Shahan "Life is what happens while you're busy making plans", John Lennon > -----Original Message----- > From: [log in to unmask] [SMTP:[log in to unmask]] > Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2002 4:42 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: <<OT>> H1B revisited > Sensitivity: Confidential > > What an interesting article, with some compelling contrarian opinions > about > several things in our industry. Section 8.1 "On-the-Job Learning, Not > Formal > Retraining, Is Best" > (<http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/itaa.real.html#tth_sEc8.1>) has such > nuggets > as: > > The fact is that any competent programmer can pick up a new software skill > on his/her own, on the job, without formal instruction... (By the way, > contrary to the claim that most older programmers who have trouble finding > work are old COBOL programmers, most of the ones who contact me are > actually > C programmers.) All that need be done is give the programmer (a) two or > three books on Java, (b) a real Java project to work on, and (c) a Java > resource person to contact as a last resort if some question is not > answered > in the Java books. > > and > > Those of us ``dinosaurs'' who have been programming since way back in the > days of punched cards have heard claims of ``abrupt paradigm changes'' > many > times as programming languages have evolved over the years. The claims > have > always simply been hype. Programming is programming is programming, and it > has always been a straightforward matter to quickly become productive in a > new language. > > Greg Stigers > http://www.cgiusa.com > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Jim Mc Coy [mailto:[log in to unmask]] > > Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2002 10:38 AM > > To: [log in to unmask] > > Subject: Re: <<OT>> H1B revisited > > Sensitivity: Confidential > > > > "Debunking The Myth Of A Desperate Labor Shortage" > > http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/itaa.real.html > > > > Norm Matloff of UC Davis has been fighting this for a while > > now. You can get involved by joining the Programmers Guild, > > his email address is on the web site. > > > > Mainly, this amounts to nothing less than organized age > > discrimination. > > > > jm > > * To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, * > * etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html * * To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, * * etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *