wla@ccieng6.UUCP ( BAND William L. Anderson) (10/20/83)
In my humble opinion, I find it abysmal that
"hack" is a word held in high esteem. Have you ever
looked up the meaning of "hack" in a dictionary.
At hand I have the New College Edition of the American
Heritage Dictionary. And I find
hack 1. to cut with irregular and heavy blows or in a
random manner; to chip, notch, chop off, or chop up
roughly with a pick, knife, ax, or other tool.
4. to mangle ( a narrative ) by cutting.
This is a sacred word? This is what software
development is all about? It's no wonder that
Edsgar Dijkstra is having heartburn! What ever became
of the attempt to craft programs? Or to engineer a
system?
I would urge us all to replace "hack" (and the
process of hacking) with "craft" (crafting) and
"engineer" ( engineering ).
I expect the flames, but welcome informed discussion
on what it is we are trying to do in the software
development field.
Bill Anderson
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