>I'm always in awe of some of the really great minds I've met in this business. I did a lot of the crazy things I did earlier in life because I was bored. Now I know where the smart kids hang out. I'm perfectly happy to defer to some of the really brilliant programmers I've met in matters technical. I don't get involved in the technical religious wars that breakout here on occassion. < s >

I do, sometimes. It's not properly Serbian to stay silent. Though I'm usually on both sides of the fence (as in SPT vs SP, premature exit conundrum), because there's only one universal answer to such questions: "it depends".

>But before computers I spent a lot of time in the real world and like to think I figured a lot of that out - at least on the survival level, so it pleases me when non-technical people can come to me with a problem and I can translate that into a solution - perhaps a computer solution - perhaps just a clarification and redesign of their business process.
>
>Fortunately, they like to give me money if I can do that. I accept that as a sign that their admiration is sincere < s >

I've observed myself finding nutty solutions to practical problems. Building one house and fixing another up gets that out of you. It seems natural until you see other people who haven't solved them. Then I came to understand the art of programming as the general art of problem solving. We may use the code to solve something, or we can just move a table closer so the cable will be long enough.

>I always have thought of myself - in a number of my professional incarnations < s > - as a "consultant" and as such I have a Golden Rule - he who gives me the gold gets to make the rules < g >

That's a nicer way to put it. Someone still owes me a beer for the rights to use "we are a prostitution: we love what we do, and we charge for the love, and we are happiest when we're paid".

>Since you're reading HHJ you perhaps understand what I mean.

Just at chapter six, but I see where you're pointing.