Friday, August 23, 2013

Code Monkeys


There is an interesting article at Popular Mechanics by Steve Rousseau on how grease monkeys are becoming code monkeys.  Below are some snippets:

"The phrase "car modification" bring to mind images of grease-stained burly persons clad in oil-spotted coveralls, toiling away at the aluminum and steel heart of some piece of American muscle. Those who coax more out of a vehicle are seen as artisans. Their canvas is an engine block. Their studio, a garage."
 snipped....

"In this respect, Nelson is part of a new class of automotive mechanics that seek to improve the automobile with data sets and text editors instead of wrenches and milling machines. "Look around any high school. For every person who modifies an engine there are about five to ten people who are doing complex coding on a laptop," says K. Venkatesh Prasad, group and senior technical leader of vehicle design and infotronics within Ford's Research and Innovation department."