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Poll: Are you a Programmer?

news.ycombinator.com

31–40 of 87 posts

Re: Poll: Are you a Programmer?

#32
post #2

I code, but it hasn't been advantageous to call myself a programmer for a while now.

This tallies with my pet hypothesis about programmer career paths. It is commonly observed that programming is a young person's game: there are lots of teenage and twenty something programmers but fewer and fewer as you look at older and older age groups. This is sometimes blamed on age discrimination, and sometimes on the idea that programming is an exceptionally terrible career. My hypothesis is that the "problem"…

This is because we become managers :)

Re: Poll: Are you a Programmer?

#34
post #12

Hm, what's this poll trying to find out or measure by asking this? Also, what's "C+"?

> C+

One of my coworkers used the term for a program consisting of a core that was a C library and a GUI that was in C++/MFC.

The author of a book I started reading (http://www.amazon.com/Tricks-Programming-Gurus-Advanced-Grap... ) used it to describe his style of writing mostly C but using a C++ compiler and taking advantage of some of things like stricter type checking, new/delete syntactic sugar, etc.

But I'm guessing it was a typo.

Re: Poll: Are you a Programmer?

#35
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I call myself a coder because I write code. I don't hack, crack, or (verb)script-kiddie, so I won't refer to myself as a hacker, cracker, or script-kiddie.

*sigh I would hope people would understand the title of hacker on this website. Hint it has nothing to do with security

But wouldn't it be nice if some script kiddie misunderstood and got hooked? A sample IRC log might look like this:

  SC1: yo dog, long time
  SC1: still haxoring Wordpress modules?
  HNer: naah man, WP is gey
  HNer: I am busy hacking Supply and Demand
  SC1: wtf? the economic model?
  HNer: yeah, making something people want
  -- SC1 has quit IRC (Quit: Leaving.)

Re: Poll: Are you a Programmer?

#36
post #9

Nope. I'm a web designer and I have some interest in programing, but all I know is a little Actionscript. I come here for the high quality discussion on the articles I do understand, and I read the occasional programming story just to see if I can get anything out of it.

Have you noticed any desire to program more since you started coming here?

(I'm in a similar situation) I've learned bits of PHP and Java in the past, but I wouldn't call it being a programmer.

Thanks to HN, I've decided to properly learn to program.

I'm buying a book on Python (http://amzn.to/bUMPCP), and I'm taking C++ in the upcoming semester.

Re: Poll: Are you a Programmer?

#39
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

*sigh I would hope people would understand the title of hacker on this website. Hint it has nothing to do with security

But wouldn't it be nice if some script kiddie misunderstood and got hooked? A sample IRC log might look like this: SC1: yo dog, long time SC1: still haxoring Wordpress modules? HNer: naah man, WP is gey HNer: I am busy hacking Supply and Demand SC1: wtf? the economic model? HNer: yeah, making something people want -- SC1 has quit IRC (Quit: Leaving.)

It would be wonderful. But my point on not calling myself a hacker is not because I don't "hack supply and demand," but I don't "hack" stuff in general. Hack can be used correctly in two totally different contexts (not mistaken with crack), and that is the good helpful kind of hack.

Re: Poll: Are you a Programmer?

#40
post #9

Nope. I'm a web designer and I have some interest in programing, but all I know is a little Actionscript. I come here for the high quality discussion on the articles I do understand, and I read the occasional programming story just to see if I can get anything out of it.

Have you noticed any desire to program more since you started coming here?

Not really. I've had a slight interest in programming for years, but I'm more interested in design.

I'd like to develop an iPhone game, but I don't think I have enough motivation or focus to make it up the steep learning curve. I made a Pong clone in Actionscript, that was as far as I got. The only project idea I have right now is pretty complex; I think I'd need a more modest goal to start with.

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