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Joel Spolsky is doing an IAmA on reddit

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Re: Joel Spolsky is doing an IAmA on reddit

#3

Post by euroclydon »

I really want to learn C, like he says. I get plenty done without knowing it, and I have few doubts I can continue to find decent work without knowing it, but I haven't been able to gain any traction when I try to learn it.

I've got the books sitting front of me, and I've written some trivial visualizations of sorting algorithms using terminal output, but damn if I can find a way to use C as a web developer. If there were just some use case where C would help me get something done, I'd be all over it.

Re: Joel Spolsky is doing an IAmA on reddit

#4

Post by gecko »

ceejayoz wrote: post #2

A dedicated ama.stackexchange.com could be an interesting experiment.

I'm not really convinced that StackExchange is the best system for that. You'd really want one StackExchange per person; otherwise, the one-answer-per-question nature of StackExchange, with voting for "correct" results, which result in bizarre gaming behavior and impossible-to-follow discussions.

Re: Joel Spolsky is doing an IAmA on reddit

#5

Post by chrisboesing »

gecko wrote: post #4
ceejayoz wrote: post #2

A dedicated ama.stackexchange.com could be an interesting experiment.

I'm not really convinced that StackExchange is the best system for that. You'd really want one StackExchange per person; otherwise, the one-answer-per-question nature of StackExchange, with voting for "correct" results, which result in bizarre gaming behavior and impossible-to-follow discussions.

You could use the tag system. The questions would be at ama.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/Joel+Spolsky. The person who posted the question just had to accept the answer of the person who he had asked.

Re: Joel Spolsky is doing an IAmA on reddit

#6

Post by leon_ »

euroclydon wrote: post #3

I really want to learn C, like he says. I get plenty done without knowing it, and I have few doubts I can continue to find decent work without knowing it, but I haven't been able to gain any traction when I try to learn it. I've got the books sitting front of me, and I've written some trivial visualizations of sorting algorithms using terminal output, but damn if I can find a way to use C as a web developer. If there…

> but damn if I can find a way to use C as a web developer

Write a web app in C? ;)

But yeah, in most cases C won't improve your productivity as a web developer. But it will certainly make you understand the computer better.

So maybe start a recreational project in C? A command line utility, a demon, a music streaming server - something not really web-dev related.

Re: Joel Spolsky is doing an IAmA on reddit

#7

Post by lactoferment »

euroclydon wrote: post #3

I really want to learn C, like he says. I get plenty done without knowing it, and I have few doubts I can continue to find decent work without knowing it, but I haven't been able to gain any traction when I try to learn it. I've got the books sitting front of me, and I've written some trivial visualizations of sorting algorithms using terminal output, but damn if I can find a way to use C as a web developer. If there…

Write a LISP interpreter? :-)

This was the final project in the C class I took in college. It's not a bad idea.

Re: Joel Spolsky is doing an IAmA on reddit

#8

Post by SkyMarshal »

euroclydon wrote: post #3

I really want to learn C, like he says. I get plenty done without knowing it, and I have few doubts I can continue to find decent work without knowing it, but I haven't been able to gain any traction when I try to learn it. I've got the books sitting front of me, and I've written some trivial visualizations of sorting algorithms using terminal output, but damn if I can find a way to use C as a web developer. If there…

Raphters might interest you:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2407334

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2436885

http://thechangelog.com/post/4608227295/raphters-a-web-frame...

Re: Joel Spolsky is doing an IAmA on reddit

#9

Post by 2mur »

euroclydon wrote: post #3

I really want to learn C, like he says. I get plenty done without knowing it, and I have few doubts I can continue to find decent work without knowing it, but I haven't been able to gain any traction when I try to learn it. I've got the books sitting front of me, and I've written some trivial visualizations of sorting algorithms using terminal output, but damn if I can find a way to use C as a web developer. If there…

I'm learning it now too. My primary use case, at least initially, is going to try to extend python with C. Not really because I have a need, but mostly because I can't really imagine needing C for any other task than speeding up some of my poorly optimized python at some point down the road.

Re: Joel Spolsky is doing an IAmA on reddit

#10

Post by notyourwork »

lactoferment wrote: post #7
euroclydon wrote: post #3

I really want to learn C, like he says. I get plenty done without knowing it, and I have few doubts I can continue to find decent work without knowing it, but I haven't been able to gain any traction when I try to learn it. I've got the books sitting front of me, and I've written some trivial visualizations of sorting algorithms using terminal output, but damn if I can find a way to use C as a web developer. If there…

Write a LISP interpreter? :-) This was the final project in the C class I took in college. It's not a bad idea.

Great project; I remember implementing a scheme interpreter in scheme back in undergraduate. It gave me a great understanding for scheme.
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