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Ask HN: Is 36 too late to start into programming?

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Re: Ask HN: Is 36 too late to start into programming?

#71

Post by rbanffy »

cromulent wrote: post #61
rbanffy wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, it not falsifiable. If you succeed, you were born for it. If you don't you weren't. The idea is that the only way he can find it out is by trying. Some of the best programmers I have met did come from outside compsci field - biologists, psychologists, and, yes, a business manager. The point is he must try to know whether he can - and is willing to - do it. And, BTW, what good would a citation do? It would b…

There's often examples at this address of people who successfully became programmers but were born for something else: http://thedailywtf.com/

There are programmers and there are people who can write programs. There is a huge difference.

Re: Ask HN: Is 36 too late to start into programming?

#72

Post by philwelch »

jheriko wrote: post #11

If you've owned a computer for the last six months at least, and haven't already learned at least some programming then I'd suggest you probably don't have a particular aptitude for it - give it a go anyway though, and if you enjoy it then don't stop. Please don't just do it for the money though - all the worst programmers I've met fall into that category, and none of the best. On the other hand, web programming is e…

"If you've owned a computer for the last six months at least, and haven't already learned at least some programming then I'd suggest you probably don't have a particular aptitude for it"

I don't think that's been true since the 1980's or so. There are so many things to do with a computer that writing programs might be something that takes years to get to, and not all systems make it all that obvious or easy how to start. The days when your computer had only a handful of programs and a BASIC so you could write your own are long gone.

Re: Ask HN: Is 36 too late to start into programming?

#73

Post by cromulent »

rbanffy wrote: post #71
cromulent wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's often examples at this address of people who successfully became programmers but were born for something else: http://thedailywtf.com/

There are programmers and there are people who can write programs. There is a huge difference.

No, I think you will find that there is not a huge difference - in fact, the definition of programmer is one who writes programs.

I've seen the word developer used as an extension of programmer - someone who doesn't need a pseudocode specification to turn a requirement into a solution, whereas a programmer may be someone who just translates the spec into a machine-readable format. Both are programmers, though.

Re: Ask HN: Is 36 too late to start into programming?

#74

Post by tudorw »

Go for it, IMO all you have missed out on is a lot of pain and redundant learning :)

Imagine web design never having known IE5.5 ... it's like a dream...

The power available now compared to 10 years ago to create stunning applications with only basic programming knowledge is phenomenal. I do suggest you skip the web and go learn a mobile platform though, android development is a good (and free!) place to start as it's still relatively new so there are lots of people learning and great resources available.

http://developer.android.com/index.html

Re: Ask HN: Is 36 too late to start into programming?

#76

Post by jheriko »

CodeMage wrote: post #13
jheriko wrote: post #11

If you've owned a computer for the last six months at least, and haven't already learned at least some programming then I'd suggest you probably don't have a particular aptitude for it - give it a go anyway though, and if you enjoy it then don't stop. Please don't just do it for the money though - all the worst programmers I've met fall into that category, and none of the best. On the other hand, web programming is e…

On the other hand, web programming is exceptionally easy... No, it's not. The only thing easy in programming is writing trivial examples and small stuff like that. Writing a non-trivial program that has to be used by real users and is expected to have as few bugs as possible is not easy at all.

Compared to non-web programming, the tools are better, more well developed and the languages/formats require substantially less knowledge. This is all well documented.

If thats not easy, what is?

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