The non-programmers tag has no wiki summary.
-1
votes
2answers
149 views
Can non-IT people learn and take advantage of regular expressions? [closed]
Often times, not-IT people has to deal with massive text data, clean it, filter it, modify it. Often times normal office tools like Excel lack the tools to make complex search and replace operations ...
8
votes
1answer
220 views
Pair programming business logic with a non-IT person
Have you have any experience in which a non-IT person works with a programmer during the coding process?
It's like pair programming, but one person is a non-IT person that knows a lot about the ...
9
votes
5answers
869 views
How can I give a basic idea of what I'm working on to a non programmer? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How to explain programming to a non-programmer?
As a relatively new programmer (1 year professionally, many years as an amateur) I've run into many situations that sent ...
118
votes
10answers
11k views
Has “Not everyone can be a programmer” been studied?
An old adage that many programmers stick to is "It takes a certain type of mind to learn programming, and not everyone can do it."
Now I'm sure that we all have our own trove of anecdotal evidence, ...
19
votes
7answers
771 views
How can a non-technical person learn to write a spec for small projects?
How can a non-technical person learn to write specs for small projects?
A friend of mine is trying to outsource some development on a statistics project.
In particular, he does a lot of work in ...
8
votes
8answers
512 views
How to explain to a layperson the variance in programmer rates?
I recently talked to a guy that is looking for developers to build a product idea. He mentioned he has received interest from people but the rates have varied from $20-120/hr. This project he ...
32
votes
9answers
2k views
Can non-IT people handle a wiki?
My company is looking to improve their market research data management.
Current data management style:
"Hey Jimbo, where's that picture of our WhatZit 2.0?
"yeah I remember that email about that ...
5
votes
5answers
253 views
What appears in your mind if someone asks for a module for application?
Non-technical people tend to say the word module instead of feature. But I always get annoyed if someone tells me to write a module when what they really want is a feature.
In my opinion a module is ...
18
votes
9answers
444 views
Which software development practices would you recommend non-programmers implement in their fields of work? [closed]
Say you had to give a talk to non-programmers who were looking to learn something from software development that they could apply to their own functions.
Question: What practices would you preach?
...
10
votes
12answers
1k views
How to explain to non-programmers that programming is not a repetitive task?
Some people have the view of programming that it is just repetitive typing on a keyboard. None of this is true. First of all, there is so much more you have to do than actually typing down the code, ...
4
votes
6answers
873 views
Interesting non programming tasks for programmers
This question is related to my another questions asked to HN community
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2450143
Here is the summary of above thread:
I asked HN community if we should give 2nd ...
41
votes
15answers
3k views
How can you explain “beautiful code” to a non-programmer?
When speaking with a non-programmer friend, I happened to mention the concept of "beautiful code" and she wanted to understand what that meant, but I was at a bit of a loss as to how to explain it to ...
1
vote
2answers
111 views
Book on Access and SQL [closed]
My little brother is a CPA but in his new job he is required to use access to pull his own data. He has grown frustrated with the limitations of the canned reports that he has access to. However he ...
25
votes
4answers
861 views
How to explain to non-technical person why the task will take much longer then they think?
Almost every developer has to answer questions from business side like:
Why is going to take 2 days to add this simple contact form?
When developer estimates this task, they may divide it into steps:
...
2
votes
3answers
559 views
How to introduce web development to non-programmers?
Once one of my non-programmer friends asked, "I have a cool website idea that I don't want to share. Rather I want to develop it on my own. So, I want to learn web development. Tell me what to do?"
...
2
votes
5answers
294 views
Testing for Non Programmers
I would like to get my younger brother, who can't program, to test some code I am writing from requirements I provide him in documentation. Is there a way to get him going quickly? Ideas?
Please and ...
12
votes
9answers
568 views
How do you explain the source of an identifed problem without making it an “excuse”?
As practicing (as much as I can at least) "egoless programming", I'm focused on solving problems whoever wrote the code related (if that person don't make dangerous code) and I like to understand the ...
3
votes
4answers
575 views
How to encourage a non-programmer to learn programming?
Learning programming for the first time may be boring, especially reading a book with boring examples.
Is there other way to learn non-programmers programming?
For example involve them in a simple ...
35
votes
13answers
2k views
Can a non-programmer successfully run a software company?
Back in 2006, one Joel Spolsky made the following comment:
Watching non-programmers trying to run
software companies is like watching
someone who doesn't know how to surf
trying to surf.
...
17
votes
10answers
925 views
How do you portray to non programmers what programming involves?
I get casually asked a lot to take a couple days to teach someone how to program. Most people really think they can learn what I know in a few days. When I tell them I have been doing this for many ...
17
votes
10answers
4k views
Explaining technical things to non-technical people
I often have to explain technical things and technical decisions to my extremely non technical manager and I'm pretty awful at it. What are good ways to essential dumb things down for the rest of the ...
22
votes
15answers
3k views
Explaining programming to a child [closed]
How could I try to explain programming to a child, about 6 to 8 years old?
13
votes
10answers
862 views
Why does it seem so hard for non programmers to understand versioning?
In the past I have worked with designers, BAs and project managers, all who regularly produce project artifacts, yet very really do they understand the concept of versioning. When I try to explain it ...
12
votes
14answers
2k views
How to teach programming a person who completed CS studies but for 5 years was working in other profession?
I have a colleague who want to go back to programming after 5 years of doing something else. Five year ago he was working with C++ / linux, delphi, and a lot with mSQL . He asked me to help him to go ...
30
votes
23answers
2k views
What's a good Programming Metaphor? [closed]
I am referring to explaining to the non-programmer what programming is. I made sure to search for similar questions before creating this one, but the few ones I did find seemed to dodge the question, ...
18
votes
14answers
2k views
How to explain programming to a non-programmer? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How do you share your craft with non programmers?
I tend to think that I might get such a question in the future...
How should I answer to it in layman terms?
10
votes
3answers
554 views
Guiding Non-Programmers in Hiring of a Programmer
A friend of mine has a developer (possibly the "mad genius" type) that has built a substantial system on which their small business is critically dependent. They'd like to get away from their current ...
34
votes
18answers
3k views
How do you share your craft with non programmers?
Sometimes I feel like a musician who can't play live shows. Programming is a pretty cool skill, and a very broad world, but a lot of it happens "off camera"- in your head, in your office, away from ...
6
votes
4answers
285 views
I want to explain why the specification must not be changed during development period
I want to explain why the specification must not be changed during development period to the new planning department employee.
Is there any cool document that does this?
