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I continually have to check the details of syntax and stuff when programming. Things like print format specifiers, the syntax of things I havent used for a year or so, and use a calculator to work out bit masks and check my bit wise logic. I can never get it right in my head.
I dont remember details. I dont pride myself on that. I spend my time and energy on the big picture. Designing and understanding complex mechanisms. The architecture. The guts of the machine.
So I think of myself as a software engineer, not a programmer.
How about you lot?
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Definitely programmer, and I still need to check things a lot.
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A software programming engineer...
Skipper: We'll fix it.
Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this?
Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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Wizard.
Edit: How about Witch King of (company or place)?
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
modified 9-Nov-17 5:38am.
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Same with me. There's so much crap to keep track of nowadays I think it's better to understand principles and Google the detail specific stuff as needed. Because as sure as the sun rises in the east, there will be some new fancy buzzword come along every other day that we're expected to magically know just because it's the next shiny red button to come along.
Jeremy Falcon
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It not just fancy new stuff with me, it is stuff I have been doing for 20 years I forget the details of. I had to look up how to write a function pointer and pass it in an argument the other day! 
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Chances are you're just getting old then brother. 
Jeremy Falcon
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 Could be.
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Happens to all of us. I'm in my fifties now, and Google, stack overflow, and text books are open constantly as I work. Still got all me own teeth, tho'.
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Sounds like me, though I am down a tooth. One thing you left off your list of resources was codeproject. I guess it is a given though because we are all here, aren't we?
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Good Point! Oversight on my part. I think that I take Code Project for granted, it's just there.
I would be at a loss without my regular email shots from CP. It's not only helped with codeine etc., but I've got some blummin' good applications for free.
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Glad I am not the only one!
He funny thing is though, despite this, we produce great products. Focus. Maturity. Keep it simple. All the attributes of experience I think.
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I'm 68, down several teeth (my dad never left me anything but his crappy brittle teeth), and teaching myself C# as I convert my VB6 code to it. It does not get any better.
Getting old is hell, but it does beat the alternative...
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I thought I was the only one here that fits this description... glad for the company!
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There's a lot of us out here.
the not so silent majority...
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At 75 I thought that I was the oldest coder in the World. I tell my clients "I can still do it.. if I just didn't look so old."
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At 75, you probably are the oldest. I'm only 68.
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I'm the Chief Bit-Byte-Blob Combobulator in my company (of one
Technically, a "Software Engineer" might not do any actual "Programming" - maybe just designing/architecting. So I don't think it's always an equivalency. $0.02
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After 52 years of writing computer programs in various languages across various platforms, I still get the same kick out of watching code run as I did when I started. I'm proud to be a "Programmer" although I moved into "Consultancy" and "Management" for the sake of my career. I never stopped writing code or learning new languages and concepts and I believe I'll be writing code as long as I can see and type. (I still have all my own teeth, but I invested a lot of money in crowns over the years...) Programming is about an attitude to problem solving and being determined to make something work; it doesn't matter whether you call yourself a "software engineer", a "programmer", a "code jockey" or a "computer geek"; if you will visualize a process and create it in working code, you are a "programmer".
Pete Dashwood
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Jeremy Falcon wrote: Chances are you're just getting old then brother.
Hey! I resemble that remark! 
If you think hiring a professional is expensive, wait until you hire an amateur! - Red Adair
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Jeremy Falcon
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Engineer is one who can see the "big picture" and build an application, since an application is the inter-workings of hundreds of algorithms, a programmer is one who can code the algorithms that are needed to work together to build the application. We find we can find a lot of good programmers, but, it is very hard to find people that are good engineers...start with a blank canvas and build something.
As for age, the good news is everything is online today! If you forget a function and how to use it, simply use Google and up pops the solution and hundreds of examples. It is much easier to be a programmer these days because you simply don't have to remember anything. I remember 20+ years ago we would even give quizzes to prospective programmers to see how many commands and functions they knew, using the logic that the more they knew the faster the could work since they wouldn't have to constantly look commands up in a reference book. But, today, it simply doesn't matter...in fact it is actually good when they look up things on Google because it shows them command they are searching for and algorithms that use the function in ways they maybe hadn't thought about.
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Instructors in schools and universities need to realize this. I agree completely.
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Realize that where all getting old?
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The Klingon kind of.
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