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I'm 85 and I Learned To Code. You Should Too.

blog.codehs.com

21–30 of 42 posts

Re: I'm 85 and I Learned To Code. You Should Too.

#21

but... http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/05/please-dont-learn-t...

I'm free to do whatever I want. I chose to learn informatics for the fat paycheck mostly. So what? I happened to like programming, nowadays I spend a lot of my free time building stuff for no reason, and have fun doing that. But in the end, if I were rich, I'm not sure I would be doing any of this. I would probably be playing ping pong all day long, or travelling around the world, or investing in space exploration, or learning astrophysics.

Re: I'm 85 and I Learned To Code. You Should Too.

#23

Coding is good for the brain, it keeps you thinking and on your toes. I hope I live long enough to get to 85 and am still coding. This was inspiring, if an 85 year old can learn Javascript maybe I can learn other languages I've been putting off learning because I felt as though they were too hard.

No! that's piano playing and not coding

Re: I'm 85 and I Learned To Code. You Should Too.

#25
post #11
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

30 isn't older you cheeky fucker!

Wow, I suppose I should articulate this a little better. It's easy to lose perspective when you immerse yourself in a culture that celebrates young successful entrepreneurs so much. The comment referring people in their 30s as "older people" belies a pessimistic and unrealistic outlook that this perspective can sometimes give. Just because you aren't Zuckerberg by the time you're 22 doesn't mean your life is over. Th…

Not being Zuckerberg is surely a reason to be happy? :)

Re: I'm 85 and I Learned To Code. You Should Too.

#27
Nice story.

I believe anyone can learn anything, regardless the age.

And I agree with the author, know how to program is a useful knowledge in a world where computers are everywhere. And it also helps to improve the logical thinking. But I'm not among those who think that everybody must to learn programming.

Re: I'm 85 and I Learned To Code. You Should Too.

#28
post #8
post #5

Seizure warning. Anyway, very impressive stuff. Too often, people seem to give up on learning new stuff at an older age. Usually around 30.

30 isn't older you cheeky fucker!

Ha. I hope it was obvious it was somewhat of a joke, especially in the context of an article about an 85 year old.

Though I also had in mind this Benjamin Franklin quote:

"Many people die at twenty five and aren't buried until they are seventy five."

Re: I'm 85 and I Learned To Code. You Should Too.

#30
post #5

Seizure warning. Anyway, very impressive stuff. Too often, people seem to give up on learning new stuff at an older age. Usually around 30.

> "Too often, people seem to give up on learning new stuff at an older age. Usually around 30."

Since when has 30 been "an older age"? It's still well within the 1st half of a persons life (assuming average life expectancy), never mind the latter part of the 2nd half.

As a 30-something myself, I'm constantly learning new technologies (only this week I started teaching myself Go).

I know the computer industry is a very youth-orientated sector. But calling 30 year olds "old timers" is a touch unfair.

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