[ILUG] grokdoc The Newbie Viewpoint

[kevin lyda]

On Mon, Apr 19, 2004 at 08:24:01AM +0100, Frank Murphy wrote:
> Automotive Engineer = Programmer

i assume you mean "programmer = auto eng"

> Techie                     = Mechanic
> Home User               =Driver
> 
> Being a "Driver" I just want to turn the key & go.

is that what happened?  one day you went out, bought a car, and drove
with no training whatsoever?

right.

but you were trained by people who were not auto engineers or mechanics.

the "just turn the key and go" comment is common with people and
computers.  but it really doesn't reflect reality.

having emigrated from the us (where i had been driving for over 10 years
and had driven several dozen models of cars - i worked as a valet in
high school) to ireland i must admit i have consulted my car's manual at
least twice.  once to figure out the door locks (it's a ford - push in the
inside handle to lock?!?!), and once to figure out the weird dial for the
headlights (they let you tilt your headlights up and down here?  weird...)

and then there are the rules of the road which is another thing
altogether.  "what's this yellow box i'm on?  why doesn't this junction
have a 4-way stop sign?"

there are lots of things we learned wrt driving that we either studied
in a book, were directly taught or we observed.  move somewhere with
different rules or traditions and you'll see how much is "obvious"
and how much is just stuff you had to learn.

kevin

-- 
kevin at ie.suberic.net  ~  "you're either with us or against us." --dubya
                         in that simplistic world-view progressives and
                         liberals are "us" while bush and bin laden are
                         "against us."
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