Chapter 1. Professional Programming as Style

Walk into any dentist's office and you will probably find copies of Highlights for Children on various tables and magazine racks. As a child I would nervously bide my time behind the covers of this journal. As you may recall, every issue of Highlights has a cartoon series named "Goofus and Gallant." The panels of the strip present contrasting views of the lives of two young boys, Goofus, an incorrigible troublemaker, and Gallant, every mother's favorite child.

Goofus and Gallant are still the same ages they were decades ago, but what if they did grow up? Imagine that they are both in their early thirties and they both hap pen to be programmers (see Figures 1-1 and 1-2)

Figure 1-1. Goofus starts writing ...

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