LOGO-L> Software

[John_Penney@post.peek-traffic.co.uk]

     I follow the discussions and examples posted to this list with much 
     interest, although I am not a formal educator (though I am the parent 
     of three young children!).
     
     Although I am often impressed by the ingenuity and elegance of some of 
     the examples posted here, I am often shocked at their illegibility.
     
     I am a software engineer and from bitter experience, I know that the 
     most successful code is *not* the most ingenious or the most elegant. 
     Most software is written by a team of people collaborating to produce 
     a large system; most effort goes in fixing and maintaining code 
     written by other people; the most successful and error-free code is 
     the simplest and best commented!
     
     Writing clever software can be very satisfying and educational from 
     the personal perspective - I know, I've been there!  But it worries me 
     a little that the pupils on the receiving end of these beautiful Logo 
     examples might think that the world of commercial software engineering 
     is the same.  
     
     The satisfaction of being a software engineer in the real world comes 
     from a clean design, clear, concise interfaces and readable code!
     
     I await your responses with interest...

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