What's wrong with Software nowadays and how we can fix it
1–10 of 147 posts
Re: What's wrong with Software nowadays and how we can fix it
#2I usually try hard not to be cynical, but in this case I can't stop myself.
This seems to be another attempt at a grand, unified packaging and IPC / linking method. There have been hundreds of these, and there is no attempt at all to discuss where all the others went wrong, and how this will improve upon them.
Re: What's wrong with Software nowadays and how we can fix it
#3I usually try hard not to be cynical, but in this case I can't stop myself. This seems to be another attempt at a grand, unified packaging and IPC / linking method. There have been hundreds of these, and there is no attempt at all to discuss where all the others went wrong, and how this will improve upon them.
Obligatory xkcd cartoon: https://xkcd.com/927/
Re: What's wrong with Software nowadays and how we can fix it
#4> Just as knowing why apples fall down and aeroplanes fly
up, the citizens of the 21st century need to know that
computers are not magical boxes but composed of dynamic
models.
In all honesty, I don't know why apples fall down and aeroplanes fly up. I just know that they do. No doubt that improving software literacy is a worthwhile goal, but I think the author hasn't made a strong case for it in the opening paragraphs.
Re: What's wrong with Software nowadays and how we can fix it
#5I usually try hard not to be cynical, but in this case I can't stop myself. This seems to be another attempt at a grand, unified packaging and IPC / linking method. There have been hundreds of these, and there is no attempt at all to discuss where all the others went wrong, and how this will improve upon them.
Obligatory xkcd cartoon: https://xkcd.com/927/
Hahaha! I knew it will be this one even before clicking it! This one is so good!
Re: What's wrong with Software nowadays and how we can fix it
#6At first glance, it seemed like yet another silicon-valley-neoliberlist-style lots of words and ideologies, but no code and practicalities. But it seems like OPs thesis has a more hands-on approach:
Re: What's wrong with Software nowadays and how we can fix it
#7> Just as knowing why apples fall down and aeroplanes fly up, the citizens of the 21st century need to know that computers are not magical boxes but composed of dynamic models. In all honesty, I don't know why apples fall down and aeroplanes fly up. I just know that they do. No doubt that improving software literacy is a worthwhile goal, but I think the author hasn't made a strong case for it in the opening paragraph…
One of the most common challenges that I see engineers face is to effectively empathize with the user. When you know a lot about something, you just see it in a fundamentally different way. This makes it difficult to focus on making it easy for the user to do what they want, not what you think they should want.
When I drive my car, I just want to get from point A to point B while listening to a podcast. I don't care to know how they work. This doesn't make me enfeebled or ignorant, I would just rather commit my learning cycles elsewhere.
Computers need to be the same. Why would we be so foolish as to think that it's a wrongdoing that people are able to effectively use computers without having any clue about how they function?
Literacy isn't about forcing people to learn things, it's about ensuring that everyone has the baseline exposure to help them discover if they have an interest in a topic, and then the resources to explore that topic if they choose.
Re: What's wrong with Software nowadays and how we can fix it
#8> Just as knowing why apples fall down and aeroplanes fly up, the citizens of the 21st century need to know that computers are not magical boxes but composed of dynamic models. In all honesty, I don't know why apples fall down and aeroplanes fly up. I just know that they do. No doubt that improving software literacy is a worthwhile goal, but I think the author hasn't made a strong case for it in the opening paragraph…
One of the most common challenges that I see engineers face is to effectively empathize with the user. When you know a lot about something, you just see it in a fundamentally different way. This makes it difficult to focus on making it easy for the user to do what they want, not what you think they should want. When I drive my car, I just want to get from point A to point B while listening to a podcast. I don't care…
The problem with computers (abstracting from accidental complexity) is, that they do what you tell them to do, not what you think you told them to do. You cannot somehow make an agreement or solve it, how it is solved with humans - by communicating. You must formulate your thought exactly.
And that's what most people have a problem with - except for some hard sciences, they never needed to formulate their thought that way.
Re: What's wrong with Software nowadays and how we can fix it
#9> Just as knowing why apples fall down and aeroplanes fly up, the citizens of the 21st century need to know that computers are not magical boxes but composed of dynamic models. In all honesty, I don't know why apples fall down and aeroplanes fly up. I just know that they do. No doubt that improving software literacy is a worthwhile goal, but I think the author hasn't made a strong case for it in the opening paragraph…
One of the most common challenges that I see engineers face is to effectively empathize with the user. When you know a lot about something, you just see it in a fundamentally different way. This makes it difficult to focus on making it easy for the user to do what they want, not what you think they should want. When I drive my car, I just want to get from point A to point B while listening to a podcast. I don't care…
> Literacy isn't about forcing people to learn things, it's about ensuring that everyone has the baseline exposure to help them discover if they have an interest in a topic, and then the resources to explore that topic if they choose.
That sounds hilariously naive. If we'd let people decide themselves what they want to learn the majority would still be in the sandbox making castles and playing with toys all day.
Re: What's wrong with Software nowadays and how we can fix it
#10> Just as knowing why apples fall down and aeroplanes fly up, the citizens of the 21st century need to know that computers are not magical boxes but composed of dynamic models.
I'm not sure most of the public could explain why gravity works, or how an airplane actually gets in the sky. This is because most people are not inquisitive by nature, they generally take things at face value without questioning why. This kind of attitude does not work if you want to build something complex whether it be software, a car, or a bridge. I think the first step is how we as a society can encourage a generation of thinkers and tinkerers.