Re: Can't live without…

AAsk <AA2e72E@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in news:fdf9f76f-b1c0-4778-a2e4-
accaef9dda34@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> "One lone APLer could in many cases replace 10-20 applications
> programmers..."
> 
> Another viewpoint on the same scenario is that "one lone APLer
> introduces a single point of failure in the orgnisation" and no
> organisation will chose to live with this kind of vulnerability.
> Organisations exist to make a profit and the strongest influence on
> profit is their expenses: can you seriously believe that they spend
> 10-20 times more ( I am assuming that the APLer gets paid t he same as
> the orhers!) for the same end product?
> 

This is why I worked in a TWO-person APL shop for 20 years:  it allowed 
either of us to be absent for a time, for reasons of vacation, or of 
illness, and not cause a catastrophe.  I even supported applications from
a 
hospital bed.

It has been my experience that the expenses are of that (10-20x)
magnitude. 
We quoted a job at 2 person-years, and the winning bid was in the order of

20 person-years.  Somehow we were too cheap to be credible.  A lot of the 
industry still does not or will not believe things can be done that 
quickly.

I can see APL being successful in start ups, like Paul Graham talks about 
with lisp.  Two people: a domain expert and someone who can deal with 
customers, perhaps.  APL makes domain expertise relatively easy to obtain,

much to the annoyance of the xurrent priesthood.  Customer facing stuff is

actually so important, that it should be something both do.