The Evolution of a Programmer


High School/Junior High School
     10 PRINT "HELLO WORLD"
     20 END

First year in College
     program Hello(input, output)
      begin
          writeln('Hello World')
      end.

Senior year in College
     (defun hello
      (print
          (cons 'Hello (list 'World))))

New Professional
     #include <stdio.h>
     void main(void)
      {
          char *message[]={"Hello", "World");
          int i

          for (i=0; i < 2; ++i)
           {
               printf("%s ", message[i]);
           }
          printf("\n");
      }

Experienced Hacker
     #include <stdio.h>
     #define S "Hello, World\n"
     main(){exit(printf(S) == strlen(S) ? 0 : 1);}

Seasoned Hacker
     % cc -o a.out ~/src/misc/hw/hw.c
     % a.out

Guru Hacker
     % cat
     Hello, World.
     ^D

New Manager
     10 PRINT "HELLO WORLD"
     20 END

Middle Manager
     mail -s "Hello, world."" bob@b12
    Bob, could you please write me a program that prints "Hello, World."? I need it by tomorrow.
     ^D

Senior Manager
     % zmail mary
     I need a "Hello, world." program by this afternoon.

Chief Executive
     % letter
     letter: Command not found.
     % mail
     To: ^X ^F ^C
     % help mail
     help: Command not found.
     % damn it!
     !: Event unrecognized
     % logout