are programmers "failures"?

[Don Shepherd]

(03-25-2019 03:42 PM)Eddie W. Shore Wrote:  At first you don't succeed, try and try and try and try again

Eddie, I have found the following strategy to be helpful when I write an RPN program for my HP-65 or HP-12c or a Solver equation for my HP-17b. After I enter the program into the calculator and it compiles (for the 17b), I try to run it. If I don't get the results I expected, the first thing I do is to compare what is in program memory with my code as written on paper. That frequently solves the problem, because some of these old calculators (especially my 65) seem to add a keystroke now and then and you aren't aware of it. Only after I verify the stored program is the same as my paper copy, do I start re-examining my logic to find the error.