Objective-C

[[deleted user]]

This chapter reminds me that the focus of this book is the conversation WITH the authors of programming languages, and not necessarily conversations ABOUT the languages.

I have about 2 hours of Objective-C programming experience. Aside for some jabs at C++ and some interesting history (like how this language became Apple's predominant platform language and the lack of the original author's current involvement), I didn't learn much about the language.

Yet, the conversations about the economics and metrics and software engineering in general were interesting. It highlights the important (yet rarely done) work of applying metrics to software projects, learning and making decisions from the data.

As a recovering electrical/computer engineer, I often muse about the tremendous successes of components in the hardware space, and the tremendous failures in the software space. I don't have any insightful conclusions, but I doubt a fee-based SOA scheme is the answer to our software woes.

[Erik]

There was a brief comment about motivation that I liked. It indicated money isn't always the leading motivator. A feeling of importance can motivate, and it costs nothing to give to someone.

I think the "spread sheets are the most common programming language" comment is true. I know alot of people that would struggle with "Hello World" in any language, but they use spread sheets every day for business work.