Skip to main content

I am (or aim to be) a problem solver

Back in 1995, O'Reilly published the first edition of Oracle PL/SQL Programming. Changed my life...thanks readers! The following extended dedication appeared in that first edition, early evidence of my compulsive verbosity. But I still like it and thought I would offer it for your reading pleasure.

Sometimes I have trouble explaining to my about-to-be-nine-year old son, Eli, the nature of my professional occupation. The statements "I work with computers" and "I write programs on computers" certainly describe my means of employment, but they do not afford much of an explanation.

After some thought, I have found what I believe to be the simplest and also most accurate statement of my professional role in life:

I am (or aim to be) a problem solver.

Every time I write a program or assist other developers with their code, I work to solve a problem. The problem might be as broadly defined as "Build an application to keep track of all product complaints." It could also have a scope as narrow as "Find out why the string parsing mechanism in Sam's package doesn't work." At hear, there is really very little difference between these two requests. 
I am asked to bring logic, experience and technical skill to bear on an unresolved issue – and resolve it.

Solving problems is an extremely satisfying experience. This is part of the reason, I believe, that software programming can be such an addictive habit. In 1995, the quality of life – indeed, the very lives – of hundreds of millions of people around the world are threatened by the greed and out of control ambitions of a very few. Software, with its simple rules and clearly defined boundaries, offers a haven, an oasis, a paradise, into which we can escape, debug out programs, and feel that we have accomplished something constructive.

I dedicate this book to my youngest son,. Eli Silva Feuerstein, in the hope that as an adult he will be an effective and compassionate problem solver, both in the area of his professional interest and in the infinitely more troubled world at large.


I also dedicate this book to my parents, Sheldon and Joan Feuerstein, as a meager expression of my thanks for their lifelong dedication to the happiness and success of their five children (and now six grandchildren).

Eli is now 27 and an Oracle Application Express developer! But I am pretty sure he likes music more than software....

Comments

  1. iudithMay 7, 2014 at 10:05 AM

    Hello Steven,

    Lot of philosophy contained in that dedication :):)

    Yes, software can be a nice refuge from the real life if one likes to solve problems
    just for proving him/herself that he/she is able to do so, and not just for producing money
    ( most typically for somebody else ... ).

    Unfortunately, at least based on my own experience, this ability does not make you a better
    "competitor" in the real life ... the "more troubled" one as you called it :( :(

    Writing beautiful software is very close to creating beautiful music, they are both arts,
    if one is only capable to enjoy software only "up to the door" where it gets outside from the realm of art .... so, I think it is quite explainable why Eli felt inclined towards both :):)

    Most artists in the history, and the greatest ones first of all, were always unhappy people ...
    but they surely could have never chosen another way in their lives ...

    Thanks a lot & Best Regards,
    Iudith

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE should not be in your application code

A database developer recently came across my  Bulletproof PL/SQL  presentation, which includes this slide. That first item in the list caught his attention: Never put calls to DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE in your application code. So he sent me an email asking why I would say that. Well, I suppose that is the problem with publishing slide decks. All the explanatory verbiage is missing. I suppose maybe I should do a video. :-) But in the meantime, allow me to explain. First, what does DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE do? It writes text out to a buffer, and when your current PL/SQL block terminates, the buffer is displayed on your screen. [Note: there can be more to it than that. For example, you could in your own code call DBMS_OUTPUT.GET_LINE(S) to get the contents of the buffer and do something with it, but I will keep things simple right now.] Second, if I am telling you not to use this built-in, how could text from your program be displayed on your screen? Not without a lot o...
4 comments
Read more

The future of Oracle PL/SQL: some thoughts on Sten Vesterli's thoughts

Sten Vesterli published a very thought-provoking post on his blog: Please stop reading this post, and read that one. When you are done, come on back here for my thoughts on Sten's thoughts. OK. You read it. Here we go. First, thanks, Sten, for being such an interesting, wise, sometimes provocative voice in our community. Next, Sten writes: Now, on the one hand, I certainly agree that the vast majority of young developers are currently caught up in the modern version of a Gold Rush, which is: "Build an app using JavaScript, pay no attention to that database behind the curtain." But I can assure you that I still do meet young PL/SQL programmers, regularly, when I am at conferences and doing onsite presentations at companies. So, young person who writes PL/SQL: do not be afraid! You are not alone! And you are super-smart to have made the choice you did. :-) Next, Sten offers this advice to managers: I agree that PL/SQL is a "spec...
46 comments
Read more

Table Functions, Part 1: Introduction and Exploration

Please do feel encouraged to read this and my other posts on table functions, but you will learn much more about table functions by taking my Get Started with PL/SQL Table Functions class at the Oracle Dev Gym. Videos, tutorials and quizzes - then print a certificate when you are done! Table functions - functions that can be called in the FROM clause of a query from inside the TABLE operator - are fascinating and incredibly helpful constructs. So I've decided to write a series of blog posts on them: how to build them, how to use them, issues you might run into. Of course, I am not the first to do so. I encourage to check out the  documentation , as well as excellent posts from Adrian Billington (search for "table functions") and Tim Hall . Adrian and Tim mostly focus on pipelined table functions, a specialized variant of table functions designed to improve performance and reduce PGA consumption. I will take a look at pipelined table functions in the latter part...
31 comments
Read more