Just some background to qualify my opinion (subjective and anecdotal to a degree, obviously). From 1994 till 1999, I worked in a variety of languages, VB, FoxPro, Delphi, and then C++. Then I switched to Java in 1999 and worked with it till 2010. Then , then went back to C/C++/Asm till recently. Some C#. Now I'm doing Java/EE and Python again.

I've seen a lot of people in different roles, and indeed, at least my experience matches what the OP is saying. A background predominantly Java (or C# or VB or PHP) does not typically translate to a good understanding of how things work.

And such people work in a fallacy that such knowledge is not essential. And that's why we have Java/EE systems that trash the GC, or that leak connections up to the wazoo. When you have never seen a segfault with nothing but a core dump, and when all you know are these high-level stack trace constructs, it creates a false sense of security where the basics of cleaning your own shit are nowhere to be seen. Algorithm basics go out of the door (with hilarious consequences), and always operating under the assumption that latency is always 0.

So I find the OP's premise to hold consistently, regardless of whether we are developing an e-commerce site or a networking tool, or an Eclipse plug-in. In my experience, it simply holds. YMMV.

This is actually a valid question. God knows how many people I've seen constantly asking me how to use GNU sed or whether deleting keys off a java.util.HashMap is ok while iterating on it. A simple trip to google, a set of javadocs or stackoverflow would answer that shit very quickly. And that is a function of a learning style (or lack thereof.)

So there is a validity to the question. If you ask that question, and the answer doesn't contain a single reference to visiting google or stack overflow, be very afraid.

... with a golden parachute so fucking big, the only punishment they get is some headlines in the news.

Failing like that == making it rich no matter what. If that is punishment, I'm going to get me into S&M!

Goddammit, we have a lot illiterate people in this country.

This is the thing. Lots of state owned enterprise =/= socialism. That is barely a requirement for it, and it is in no way contradictory of capitalism.

Socialism, in its most general term, pushes a preference for public (social) ownership of production over private ownership. I challenge anyone to show me that this is the general trend in Germany (or even the Scandinavian countries.)

... and no, I'm not a proponent of socialism. I'm free market/private ownership all the way. I lived under socialism and it sucks, but I also know what is and what it is not. It is not what the pseudo-conservative idiot masses of this country say it is.

This is a place that tens of thousands were killed in purges, and where being homosexual can get you to the firing squad, even today. This is no bullshit or lies, but actual history (and contemporary news for those found "guilty" of homosexuality.)

Not to mention the well known fallacy of its health care system (education is good, though). You might want to revisit your notions of what a "relatively successful" society is, though (if you give a shit about being intellectually honest, that is.)

ZOMG WTF? Either you are joking, this is a typo, or you simply don't know WTF you are talking about? Name one jet, or airplane, or anything that goes up with propulsion containing something with 11 inches of steel. I seriously doubt even something like an Atlas rocket would have something like that.

We are talking about something almost a full feet thick of relatively heavy metal, not aluminum or titanium or high-strength ceramics or polymers, but steel. Other than an engine block or thrusters (which are not solid pieces of metal), what the hell in a jet is made out of a piece of steel 11 inches thick?

Not that different from the Java FOSS cornucopia. And in many ways, it is better than the design-by-committee-slow-as-molasses thing we have with JEE and the JCP.

A lot of it is ego and developers OCD/fixation with trying new technical things (as opposed to solving business problems with economical, yet maintainable solutions.)

OTH, a lot of the churn is due to external pressures of competition. You put something on the web, someone is already competing with you.

Then you have catch up at worst, or out-innovate them at best, which leads to technical changes and challenges that inevitable lead to revisiting and reinventing (sometimes brilliantly, many times horrendously) the plumbing, the scaffolding and struts that puts all of it together, where it gets deployed, etc.

Non-disposable technical software is not a quality you want to seek unless you are developing critical systems.

If your web stuff is not disposable, it means it cannot be replaced when the need arises (which it will.)

Disposable code is trivial if we know what the fuck we are doing. What we do not want are Enterprise-level business logic and dependencies and fundamental architectural decisions that are trivially disposable.

You want those things to be clear and malleable, but not so easily disposable. Because then you have a clear blue print with which to create systems with disposable (ergo, loosely coupled) design/implementation-level artifacts.

Because the only "free" license options that matter are the ones you care about. Yes Comrade Commissar, we will comply with your thought police party line or whatever #fileitunderomfgurdumb

If by average you mean good results, I guess that would be a yes. I mean seriously, in what world of stupidity and cynicism did getting kids through post-graduate education became "average results"?

I'm not a fan of home-schooling in general because, at least in this country, it is generally perceived by the public as a means for Luddites to keep their kids off the sinful, Godless grid.

But here, this is obviously not the case. And for you to simply dismiss the results of their efforts as "average results" (when in this country "average results" means graduating from HS without knowing the difference between "your" and "you're"), that is just imbecile.

Whether you are just being cynically stupid or just deliberately obtuse, only you know.

In other words, vaccines against tuberculosis and polio should be optional. File it under #inevitablelogicalconclusion

The problem with your counter-argument (aka "simple illustration") is that you presented the hypotheticals as a dichotomy, one that is patently false in real life. It is a false dichotomy that glosses over/denies all the other possibilities in between from which people select according to their personal preferences as well.

Polish your arguments if you don't like the type of responses you get.

1. Give decent pay. "Competitive salaries" typically means shitty median average no better than anyone else (so why work for you). You want top talent, pay above average.
2. Acknowledge that developers think about salary and benefits.
3. Give real benefits (no crappy health care, or no health care at all.)
4. Try to do the *right* think when it comes to engineering. We acknowledge that we have to monkey-patch shit every once in a while to get things done. We get it. But if you insist in ridiculous loads or continuously sacrifice quality in the name of the bottom line, expect good developers to GTFO at the first opportunity, regardless of pay.
5. Stop looking for "full-stack" engineers, or DevOps as in "developer on 24/7 pager duty." Even if you are a start-up, have a dedicated OP person/team (and compensate him/her/them well also - it ain't fun to be on call 24/7).
6. Don't go around laying off people at the first sign of trouble or to get your shareholders to applaud you.
7. Don't over-offshore.
8. Don't be a company hostage of next-quarter shareholders

Violate a good number of this, and you will have a revolving door of top talent in no time. Companies sacrificed the meaning of loyalty a long time ago, and they expect us foot soldiers to show loyalties when are now nothing more than commodities. Fuck you. We are mercenaries now.

Hahahaha, that is the most ridiculous false dichotomy I've seen in slashdot. $40k/year is peanuts, and whatever free time you *think* you get gets quickly consumed by the realities of not having enough for decent living, vacation, health care (and God forbid if you have or plan to have a family.)

$100K/year on the other hand, that's standard fair for any mid-to-senior developer in most urban areas, many of those clocking at 9 hours a day (with the typical crazy delivery weekend every 6-8 weeks.) There is still plenty of free time combined with a really good salary (and all the benefits that such a thing entail.)

If you think you need to slave yourself for hours on end with no free time at all to make $100K in software, you are doing it wrong (utterly and embarrassingly wrong.)

Same goes to all the fools who actually up-modded the OP (seriously, what are you doing in your careers????)

People said the same think when they were hearing about civil rights activists. And there is no such think as a local economy, at least not in the closed-system sense. Same with personal relations. The health and state of the nation affects everyone unless you live in a bunker in the Rockies or have so much money that all the daily shit is beneath you.

Knowing how to use smart pointers implies understanding their lifecycles. Same with raw pointers (which pretty much do not have a lifecycle.)

+1 for that one. One of my favorite cartoon episodes.