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The iPhone killed my inner nerd

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Re: The iPhone killed my inner nerd

#3

Post by arethuza »

dingo_bat wrote: post #2

> Windows 8... probably wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the iPhone. I highly doubt Microsoft would have given up on new versions of Windows if iphone hadn't been released.

I suspect he means that without of the success of the iPhone and then the iPad the emphasis in Windows 8 of having a "touch" interface might not have been there.

Re: The iPhone killed my inner nerd

#5

Post by norswap »

I get it. I only started programming precisely when the first iphone came out, and I started tinkering a few years before. Even so I long for this sense of wonder that existed when everything was hard, or at least required some thought and ingenuity.

I know the raspberry pie and stuff are a way to do that, but it feels so artificial and fake.

(No, this comment really has no other point but to evoke diffuse nostalgic feelings.)

Re: The iPhone killed my inner nerd

#6

Post by Aardwolf »

norswap wrote: post #5

I get it. I only started programming precisely when the first iphone came out, and I started tinkering a few years before. Even so I long for this sense of wonder that existed when everything was hard, or at least required some thought and ingenuity. I know the raspberry pie and stuff are a way to do that, but it feels so artificial and fake. (No, this comment really has no other point but to evoke diffuse nostalgic…

Raspberry pi and similar are not fake if you actually want something of this form factor (not full PC size, and not a smartphone you would build into the wall...) to run some particular job in your house or elsewhere.

Re: The iPhone killed my inner nerd

#7

Post by zyb09 »

I wonder if this will have an effect on how kids get into programming. Back when I was a kid we had MS-DOS, my primary motivation was to install and play games, but there was this easy built-in pathway of: Hey, you can do a lot more with this machine if you want, including making your own games.

Nowadays consuming and developing are so disconnected, it seems almost impossible for the younger generations to just stumble upon it like many people did back then.

Re: The iPhone killed my inner nerd

#8

Post by stinos »

arethuza wrote: post #3
dingo_bat wrote: post #2

> Windows 8... probably wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the iPhone. I highly doubt Microsoft would have given up on new versions of Windows if iphone hadn't been released.

I suspect he means that without of the success of the iPhone and then the iPad the emphasis in Windows 8 of having a "touch" interface might not have been there.

Yes and no, I guess. Yes: iPhone/iPad showed what to do properly with a touch screen on a phone or some other portable device. No: if they wouldn't have done it, I am fairly - if not 100% - sure somebody else would have done it. I had an industrial touch screen PC more than 10 years before iPhone existed. Even then, using it with a non-touch aware OS, I reckoned there was future in it: that thing, but smaller and flatter and faster and fitting into your pocket wasn't too hard to imagine. I'm by far not the most creative and definitely not alone on the planet so if even I could imagine something like my TI calculator but with a touch screen and a mail reader and my GameBoy games, others could as well, and better. So that's what happened, and Apple was basically first. And immediately spot on.

Re: The iPhone killed my inner nerd

#9

Post by lukaslalinsky »

zyb09 wrote: post #7

I wonder if this will have an effect on how kids get into programming. Back when I was a kid we had MS-DOS, my primary motivation was to install and play games, but there was this easy built-in pathway of: Hey, you can do a lot more with this machine if you want, including making your own games. Nowadays consuming and developing are so disconnected, it seems almost impossible for the younger generations to just stumb…

I think the kids who are likely to become good programmers are already tinkering with things. They will discover what they can do with a computer, one way or another. If anything, getting started in programming is easier these days, since you have a full dev environment in your browser and tutorials everywhere.
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