ADP has the worst web programmers in the world

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Joel on Software : One Thread

While I’m not familiar with the ADP Web site specifically (not being a US citizen I have no use for it) I see these type of problems all over the Web. Being a developer that works intimately with Web technologies, I have script debugging permanently activated in my browser. Guess what, every second site I hit has script errors. I think this is a result of a significant transition that is happening to the Web: from a medium for just presenting content it has become a development environment. Joel correctly refers to the creation of the ADP site as programming. The problem is that most Web developers ARE NOT programmers. Not only do they lack programming skills they also lack programming methodology (such as the need for quality testing). While development tools can make up for some of the former they cant make up for the later. Only education and experience can do that.

Dan

-- Anonymous, January 21, 2001

Answers

I wonder if most web development outfits see themselves as practicing software development. Quality testing, source control, specifications, schedules, usability testing/design... "that's for things like Microsoft Word".

A customer can be shown some shiny HTML that may have taken an amateur an evening to pull together. I would like to say even the littlest script can benfit from the methodologies of professional software development. How sad that this idea has kept me up at night feeling guilty for wasting time when I could just "code the **** thing".

Web development needs these tools desperately.

-- Anonymous, February 15, 2001


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