I am doing a little research and would like people's input on what they feel
are the most important attributes of a good Visual Basic programmer.

Thanks!
-John

Simon.

1. No life
2. Reclusive
3. Able to drink mass quantities of coffee.
4. Able to smoke mass quantities of cigarettes.
5. No conception of time. (best programming occurs at 3am)

probably a few others I've forgotten, but then these are the
mandatory ones. (number 4 can be substituted with candy,
cookies, donuts, etc...)

Ska

1. Imagination
2. Ability to focus
3. Self discipline

This last seems especially important.  The VB environment makes it possible
to create zillions of bits of code with names that can be nearly as
meaningless as line noise.

    - Bill

: >I am doing a little research and would like people's input on what they feel
: >are the most important attributes of a good Visual Basic programmer.
: >
: >Thanks!
: >-John
: >
: >
: The same qualities which make a good programmer in ANY language.

: 1. No life

I'm not that bad yet ;)

: 2. Reclusive

Eh...?

: 3. Able to drink mass quantities of coffee.

I preffer Pepsi or Coke... there's mo' caffine in it :)

: 4. Able to smoke mass quantities of cigarettes.

Hit that one on the nose... <Now where the hell did my lighter go???>

: 5. No conception of time. (best programming occurs at 3am)

I think that has somthing to do with being so tired your not paying
attention to what your doing, it just 'flows' out the way it should...
don't ask me to explain the code in the morning tho ;)

: probably a few others I've forgotten, but then these are the
: mandatory ones. (number 4 can be substituted with candy,
: cookies, donuts, etc...)

: Ska

  ____    _    ____      ____  _____
 |  _ \  / \  / ___) __ | ___)(_   _)
 | |_)  / _ \ \____\/  \|  _)   | |
 |____//_/ \_\(____/\__/|_|     |_|

     www.basicguru.com/schullian

I'd add another requirement that is 'not having anyone who relies on
you for anything, including conversation'. My girlfriend has ceased to
be impressed with spirally patterns long ago, and even today 'Hey
baby, I wrote a 3d starfield, do you want to see it?' was met with
'I'm going to smash that f*ing computer with a hammer one day.' Not
very ladylike I thought, but hey, she just doesn't understand.

Cheers,

Ali

Simon.

To become a member in the secret society of programmers,
with the secret handshake, and illuminati decoder ring-
you must understand a few basic principles:

1. Good code can NOT begin to develop until after the
   3rd time your wife or significant other demands you come to bed.

2. Writing code at 3am is similar to immersion in a sensory deprivation
   chamber. When the code starts oozing out like a zit on your butt, even
   the 4 horses of the apocolypse could ride through your room unnoticed.

3. No matter how clear & well remarked your code is, it will be completely
    indecipherable by you in 6 months. (who WROTE this, anyway?)

4. You wife, friends, co-workers eyes will glaze over as you attempt to
    describe your latest masterpiece of coding. (coding is similar to fine
    art, except only YOU get to appreciate the {*filter*}IN' routines you
    put into a program. No one else cares... :(   )

5. Bugs in programs will NEVER show up when simulating, and debugging-
    these ALWAYS wait until you are demonstrating your program to a boss,
    or person you wish to impress.

Ska

Ska.

: I am doing a little research and would like people's input on what they feel
: are the most important attributes of a good Visual Basic programmer.

But seriously folks,

I propose one often-overlooked quality above most others: research
skills. The field, the technology, the universe, etc., change so quickly
that it is not possible for a single human to hold the necessary
information to solve all the problems that come up in the course of
creating a reasonably sophisticated application. In other words, I claim
that 'knowing how to do X, Y, and Z'  is not nearly so important as
'knowing how to find out how to do X, Y, and Z' (given, of course, a
reasonably thorough competence in the first place, so one isn't _always_
running off to the reference texts)..

Paul

  ____    _    ____      ____  _____
 |  _ \  / \  / ___) __ | ___)(_   _)
 | |_)  / _ \ \____\/  \|  _)   | |
 |____//_/ \_\(____/\__/|_|     |_|

     www.basicguru.com/schullian

Anyone gotten any 'thanks' from this dude for all our help?

  ____    _    ____      ____  _____
 |  _ \  / \  / ___) __ | ___)(_   _)
 | |_)  / _ \ \____\/  \|  _)   | |
 |____//_/ \_\(____/\__/|_|     |_|

     www.basicguru.com/schullian