What was it like to self-learn programming before Stack Overflow? (2016)
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Re: What was it like to self-learn programming before Stack Overflow? (2016)
#2Before StackOverflow? Not too bad. Without internet access, though? Much, much harder, or rather, slower - a similar level of information could be obtained but it took phone calls, bus trips to a reference library, etc. Other than that, you just had to figure everything out yourself from the user manuals and experimentation.
Of course, back then computers were much simpler and user manuals were much more complete and lower level, so this still feasible, where it wouldn't be today.
Re: What was it like to self-learn programming before Stack Overflow? (2016)
#3Before StackOverflow? Not too bad. Without internet access, though? Much, much harder, or rather, slower - a similar level of information could be obtained but it took phone calls, bus trips to a reference library, etc. Other than that, you just had to figure everything out yourself from the user manuals and experimentation. Of course, back then computers were much simpler and user manuals were much more complete and…
Google was a major step up, even when it had less than a billion pages indexed. I remember trying to find programming information on Alta Vista. It was possible but there was a lot of clicking "next page".
Re: What was it like to self-learn programming before Stack Overflow? (2016)
#4Pretty good post.
The abbreviated answer, for me:
A book open on the desk, another one open on my lap. I spent a lot more time reading programming books cover to cover than I do now, and I spent a lot of time in the programming bookstores that no longer exist, like SoftPro. In fact SoftPro was sort of like dessert when I went out for lunch.
Re: What was it like to self-learn programming before Stack Overflow? (2016)
#5Does anyone else find quora to be a "fluff" Q&A site? I so much prefer the stackoverflow and friends approach.
Re: What was it like to self-learn programming before Stack Overflow? (2016)
#6Newsgroups and mailing lists were the thing. To me as a kid, the space felt much cozier and more intimidating.
But the technology has evolved in more ways than just stack exchange. There was the availability of compilers in general- today, it's a search and a 1 minute download to get your compiler. And pick your quirky tutorial of choice. Back in the day as a kid, it was mowing lawns and paying for boxes of disks, paying for thick books(hope you bought the right $40 book!), nobody to verbally speak with, and staring at obtuse example code for hours late night while you were supposed to be sleeping.
Good times.
Re: What was it like to self-learn programming before Stack Overflow? (2016)
#7There was also a work-alike to StackOverflow in my pre-internet days for Turbo Pascal called 'SWAG'. It had example code snippets for all kinds of questions/problems, sorted by category.
I was surprised to find that someone made a web version out of it:
Re: What was it like to self-learn programming before Stack Overflow? (2016)
#8Good books were /great/. Local library had some books on Basic, VB (with a Visual Basic 5 CCE), C++ and whatnot. They may not contain the most recent 'best practices' or may even teach some antipatterns, but they get the ol' noggin' rolling and tuned for coding.
A well structured book with bite-sized chapters should be very approachable even for today's attention deficit generations.
Re: What was it like to self-learn programming before Stack Overflow? (2016)
#9Before StackOverflow you could still find your information on forums and newsgroups.
Before the Internet took off it was a much different situation. You'd read many books of course, and to fill in the missing gaps you could read magazines or talk to other people at conferences. IT conferences in those days did make much more sense than they do now, imo.
Re: What was it like to self-learn programming before Stack Overflow? (2016)
#10For me, shit. I was in rural Australia. What I had to do was pour over the documentation and experiment a lot.
Now this was back when is as 9 and using Qbasic though.
I was able to write a bunch of questions to ask the senior teachers at high school, but that only led to more questions.
I did eventually get given c++ by a friend, but I was absolutely stuck.
Admittedly though, the lack of books was the sticking point. I believe if I had a few more text books, that it would have been a hell of a lot easier. Not as easy as im-stick-quickly-google as I do now, but a ton easier.
Hmm after typing this out I realise it doesn't really answer your question, bit I'll post it anyway.
But imho learning from. Textbook with no outside resources (which I did later in life), made me come up with some interesting work around a, which later on gave me insights, but to get software out quickly, SO and Google help a lot.
Not very clear I know, sorry but that's my 2 cents.