Many of us here at Port80 Software are readers and admirers of Joel Spolsky's blog. We've also noticed that Joel's profile has gotten a bit higher outside the strict confines of the software world, now that his excellent essay collection Joel on Software is out and being promoted. Just the other day, for instance, an interview with the author appeared in the online general interest magazine Salon (subscription or day pass required).
But we didn't really expect to find Joel being linked to by Berkeley economist Brad De Long, whose “Semi-Daily Journal” we usually read for enitrely different reasons--like understanding where the dollar is headed. Professor De Long links to a post of Joel's from 2001--a classic plea for a back-to-basics approach to CS instruction. Check out the comments section for a spirited version of the abstraction v. bare metal controversy. And while you're there you can also get up to speed on the impact of the current account deficit on the future price of the long bond (in case you were wondering).