I had this digg thread about this article forwarded to me about how most programmers can’t code at all. From what I gather (the main article site is down) the writer says most programmers copy and paste code, and have no idea what they are doing. That may be true. I can’t say for sure. I’ve seen quite a few applications where that would answer some questions. But one thing that has me miffed was the fact most of the comment’s agreement and proof is: people can’t write code on a whiteboard.

That has to be one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard.

How many people out there write code on a whiteboard? On a piece of paper? Forget those IDEs and editors, heck forget the keyboard and computer. Here is a pen, write me some code. Oh yeah, and do it with an audience. Is this 1954?

Of course almost every programmer I know codes this way. There are cubicles full of just desks and whiteboards where people sit around with dry erase makers and write huge applications – not design the application or brainstorm, no no, they write code on these whiteboards. If they have a large computation problem, I think they can use a abacus, but only if they are a current employee at Google.

In fact, it is well known that Office XP was written entirely 8 1/2 X 11 Clairefontaine notebooks then handed to guys who translated those to punch cards. They also were able to do this without needing to use man pages or any reference material – something we all need to strive for. Because that’s useful.

Yes, ladies and gentleman, if a geek who rarely leaves his computer is put into a completely uncomfortable situation where he is being judged, removed from every ounce of familiarity he / she has grown used to for the past 5-9 years, and can’t write you an application on a whiteboard – they suck. Forget looking at what they’ve accomplished. Forget it’s obvious they know how – if they can’t blurt out function names from memory they are completely useless, and should be discarded immediately. Because in the real world, you aren’t allowed to use reference material.

This really errks me because most people can’t even spell when they approach a whiteboard.

Ok, so this posting is a bit over the top, but when I was last looking for a job almost every single place had me write code either on the whiteboard, or on a piece of paper. Often times I refused to do it because I didn’t see the point in it, and when I asked what they were testing me on they often said something like, “to see if you can code.” If that were true, then the experiment is flawed from the get go. I rarely use a pen anymore, let alone write code on anything but a keyboard.

By the way, I often suggested that if they wanted to give me a computer, or let me send them back an example / answer after the interview I would be more than happy to do it for them. Often that was unacceptable, it was paper / whiteboard with audience or nothing.

I fail to see how writing code on a whiteboard shows programming expertise – or even programming ability to be frank. Give them a computer if you want to test their ability to program a computer. Give them a whiteboard if you want to test their designing / brainstorming ability.