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Most tech content is bullshit (2020)

aleksandra.codes

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Re: Most tech content is bullshit (2020)

#81

Post by aloisdg »

manmal wrote: post #78
thefourthchime wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're going a little bit far, but I tend to agree. My reasoning for this is, to look back on experts from the past. Unless it's a hard scientific fact, a law of physics, most things are really just opinions that people tend to agree with. Remember Leaded gasoline? How about DDT or Asbestos? How about Freud? Of the thing the bible likes to talk about, slavery. Even in the 25 years, I've been in programming, i…

> The only thing I follow is keeping stuff simple. Some other things I’ve kept around: - Complex systems must develop out of a simple system (there’s a clever quote I can’t find right now) - also known as “make it work, then make it better” - Bugs shall become test cases - Bug reproducibility should be maximized (crash tracking / good logs, sacrifice performance if necessary) - Fail fast - Composition over inheritanc…

Seen it on c2 wiki: Make It Work Make It Right Make It Fast

https://wiki.c2.com/?MakeItWorkMakeItRightMakeItFast

Re: Most tech content is bullshit (2020)

#82

Post by msla »

jackfoxy wrote: post #80

> Tutorials show harmful patterns. Try to find a sample SQL database, for any vendor, that does not employ artificial table primary keys. This was a requirement in the 1980s so that your queries would execute before the heat death of the universe, but that has not been the case for decades. Microsoft is particularly guilty of this. Artificial keys are an anti-pattern. (And, btw, there's a dearth of literature on why…

> Artificial keys are an anti-pattern. (And, btw, there's a dearth of literature on why artificial keys are an anti-pattern.)

Why, in specific, are artificial keys an anti-pattern?

Seems like they preemptively solve problems. For example, using an SSN as a "natural" primary key is both a potential security nightmare and a data normalization nightmare if someone shows up with two or more SSNs, which does happen. (Yes. Yes. My great uncle had at least two SSNs. You won't convince me it can't happen.) Similarly for other "natural" data which isn't bound to obey the properties DBAs need for primary keys.

Re: Most tech content is bullshit (2020)

#83

Post by msla »

spacemadness wrote: post #18

One devious form of bullshit is always using the simplest of examples to prove out an architecture pattern and call it a day. I’ve lost count on how many times I’ve seen patterns with glaring open questions and pitfalls the author avoids. Then the cacophony of likes follow from folks who’re likely very early in their career or hobby and don’t know any better. This is very prevalent on iOS development blogs as authors…

https://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/real.programmers.html

> The academics in computer science have gotten into the "structured programming" rut over the past several years. They claim that programs are more easily understood if the programmer uses some special language constructs and techniques. They don't all agree on exactly which constructs, of course, and the example they use to show their particular point of view invariably fit on a single page of some obscure journal or another-- clearly not enough of an example to convince anyone.

So it isn't a new phenomenon.

Re: Most tech content is bullshit (2020)

#84

Post by Tehdasi »

jackfoxy wrote: post #80

> Tutorials show harmful patterns. Try to find a sample SQL database, for any vendor, that does not employ artificial table primary keys. This was a requirement in the 1980s so that your queries would execute before the heat death of the universe, but that has not been the case for decades. Microsoft is particularly guilty of this. Artificial keys are an anti-pattern. (And, btw, there's a dearth of literature on why…

Never specifically heard about this terminology until now, but after looking, yeah, I can see why ppl prefer 'artificial' keys to natural ones. From the animal shelter example, for people it uses email as the 'natural' key, which immediately runs up against 1,2,3 and 7 in https://beesbuzz.biz/code/439-Falsehoods-programmers-believe...

Re: Most tech content is bullshit (2020)

#85

Post by bsuvc »

jackfoxy wrote: post #80

> Tutorials show harmful patterns. Try to find a sample SQL database, for any vendor, that does not employ artificial table primary keys. This was a requirement in the 1980s so that your queries would execute before the heat death of the universe, but that has not been the case for decades. Microsoft is particularly guilty of this. Artificial keys are an anti-pattern. (And, btw, there's a dearth of literature on why…

I am curious based on your opinion of this. Do you work in academia or business?

Re: Most tech content is bullshit (2020)

#86

Post by j_french »

BiteCode_dev wrote: post #43

True, but most content in general is bullshit. Most scientific publications is BS published for the sake of pumping your numbers. Most student memoire is BS to pass the exam. Most financial analyses, most TV journal reporting, most tweets, most books are BS. Ever read doctors or lawyers specialized magazines? Most pages are BS on top of BS. Paid content, content produced to fill space, making volume, low quality auth…

Many years ago a friend of mine proposed a theory of his (I use the word "theory" in the loosest possible sense here, more student dorm than lab) that sounded a lot like this. In his version, most of everything is shit. Most music is shit, most movies are shit, most pizzas are shit. Only a minority of any given thing is actually of high quality.

I haven't seen much over the years to convince me that he or you are wrong

Re: Most tech content is bullshit (2020)

#87

Post by redhale »

jackfoxy wrote: post #80

> Tutorials show harmful patterns. Try to find a sample SQL database, for any vendor, that does not employ artificial table primary keys. This was a requirement in the 1980s so that your queries would execute before the heat death of the universe, but that has not been the case for decades. Microsoft is particularly guilty of this. Artificial keys are an anti-pattern. (And, btw, there's a dearth of literature on why…

"X is an anti-pattern" comments/articles, offered with no backing evidence, is a spot-on example of bullshit tech content.

Re: Most tech content is bullshit (2020)

#88

Post by shortrounddev2 »

I think HN is a madhouse. Any article I click on, there's things I've never heard of that sound like made up techno-jargon, like programming languages which I've never seen used in a real job, let alone met anyone who uses them

But I go to the comments and there's 150 people who all know every intimate detail of this technology already. Experts in the subject.

I think most of you all are faking it

Re: Most tech content is bullshit (2020)

#89

Post by echelon »

shortrounddev2 wrote: post #88

I think HN is a madhouse. Any article I click on, there's things I've never heard of that sound like made up techno-jargon, like programming languages which I've never seen used in a real job, let alone met anyone who uses them But I go to the comments and there's 150 people who all know every intimate detail of this technology already. Experts in the subject. I think most of you all are faking it

> I think most of you all are faking it

The world is huge. We're all traversing different areas of interest and expertise.

It makes sense that there are lots of different types of domain experts in our field. This is a great place where they tend to congregate together.

Re: Most tech content is bullshit (2020)

#90

Post by saulpw »

j_french wrote: post #86
BiteCode_dev wrote: post #43

True, but most content in general is bullshit. Most scientific publications is BS published for the sake of pumping your numbers. Most student memoire is BS to pass the exam. Most financial analyses, most TV journal reporting, most tweets, most books are BS. Ever read doctors or lawyers specialized magazines? Most pages are BS on top of BS. Paid content, content produced to fill space, making volume, low quality auth…

Many years ago a friend of mine proposed a theory of his (I use the word "theory" in the loosest possible sense here, more student dorm than lab) that sounded a lot like this. In his version, most of everything is shit. Most music is shit, most movies are shit, most pizzas are shit. Only a minority of any given thing is actually of high quality. I haven't seen much over the years to convince me that he or you are wro…

90% of everything is crap. -- Sturgeon's Law
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