I Owe My Life’s Work to Spaghetti Code
02009 April 30 by CameronI posted this at Slashdot in response to an article about Old School Programming. I’ve written about Mister Maier before, but some lessons do bear repeating. The story is highly relevant to projects I’m developing now, so I thought I’d replicate it here. Enjoy.
—————————————
I started programming on my C64 when I was seven years old. Commodore Magazine had reams of printed code to type in every month, and I was fascinated to learn how it all hung together to make a working program.
In high school, I noticed a BASIC programming class offered, and I took it knowing I was in for an easy A. (I was a bored D student with an A+ brain, so that class appealed to me.) The first program was the usual HELLO WORLD deal with a few extras thrown in for interest. I coded it in the way I’d learned how. It was fast and easy.
The next day, I found my printed program hanging up on the door with the words “NEVER DO THIS” in red ink blazing at the top. I brought it to my teacher and demanded an explanation. The code worked, it ran, it gave the desired output. What gave?
Turns out the class was in *Structured* BASIC, which I’d never encountered before.
My Teacher, Mister Maier, told me that it was obvious that I knew what I was doing with BASIC programming concepts, but learning how to structure my code wouldn’t be significant work for me. I was already learning PASCAL and other structured languages anyway; it was easy to apply those ideas to BASIC, which I’d always thought of in terms of line numbers and GOTOs.
Mr Maier offered to make me his aide: I wouldn’t have to do all the boring programs and I would have unfettered access to the computer lab. In return, I would help him in class by assisting students debug their code and get ideas about how to tackle problems.
His was a brilliant solution. He elevated the challenge level of the class to meet my skills. He showed insight and trust in *me*, which was something teachers didn’t generally feel inspired to do around me previously. He gave me the opportunity to TEACH, and that kept my investment in the class surprisingly high. Suddenly my expertise in this esoteric arena began to pay off.
Because of that, I became more invested in my own formal education, my confidence skyrocketed, I went on to college (which surprised everyone), graduated with honors, and pursued a Masters in Education.
Mr Maier literally changed my life, and I have spaghetti coding practices to thank for opening that door.
That, and a damn fine teacher.



