211–220 of 323 posts
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Fundamentals don't change. Sure there's a new frontend framework every week but they're all just generating html.
+1. What are the fundamentals of CS? Algorithms?
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I can see myself now, reading this in the university library computer lab a decade ago. And now I've taught myself programming. The journey was much more difficult and winding than I was imagining it back then!
As someone who doesn't have a traditional CS background and is on a similar journey, I'd love to know: do you have any advice or insights to share?
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I miss CompUSA. I still firmly believe that the move to transparent bags is what killed them. For me it ruined my annual tradition of buying Christmas presents while family was next door in another store, but I’m sure for others it was being treated like a criminal. Those magnetic readers aren’t great but they aren’t in your face. Once I stopped going in routinely I stopped going in at all.
Really? It hasn't killed Costco yet.
I think that’s the challenge he described.
I bought a copy of "Sams Teach Yourself C++ in 24 Hours" at a CompUSA in 1999. The guy at the checkout looked at it, laughed, and told me about this article. When I was 16 I was looking at programming books at Borders and a guy handed me a copy of "The C Programming Language"; changed my life. So much of my career has been shaped by running into developers or just people interested in programming out in the world. Th…
For me it was "Visual Basic Professional 3.0 Programming by Thomas W. Torgerson" from Barnes and Nobles in 1997. I had downloaded Visual Basic 3.0 from 100 different email attachments on AOL and wanted to learn how to make punters/progs. I remember transcribing code from the book to attempt to play a sound file when my program opened. I remember being stunned when it actually worked! What an honor it has been to make…
I bought a copy of "Sams Teach Yourself C++ in 24 Hours" at a CompUSA in 1999. The guy at the checkout looked at it, laughed, and told me about this article. When I was 16 I was looking at programming books at Borders and a guy handed me a copy of "The C Programming Language"; changed my life. So much of my career has been shaped by running into developers or just people interested in programming out in the world. Th…
This essay holds a special place in my heart, since I first read it as a teenager when I was just starting to learn to code. Re-reading it now, I was surprised to see references to Malcom Gladwell, since I didn’t remember Outliers becoming a thing until much later. Then when I saw the reference to Ratatouille, I realized the article had been updated since its posting in 1998. The original is still available on archiv…
I resent Gladwell to this day, possibly because I was assigned to read him in high school. He is quoted too much -- the 10,000 hours thing is just a meme at this point, for me anyway.
I bought a copy of "Sams Teach Yourself C++ in 24 Hours" at a CompUSA in 1999. The guy at the checkout looked at it, laughed, and told me about this article. When I was 16 I was looking at programming books at Borders and a guy handed me a copy of "The C Programming Language"; changed my life. So much of my career has been shaped by running into developers or just people interested in programming out in the world. Th…
Unfortunately "The C Programming Language" has enough typographical errors in it to seriously undermine it's utility as a book with which to learn programming.
It does use features of C89 that may not compile after C99, but those aren't weird.
But, as someone who actually did try to use K&R to teach themselves to program, I agree it's not ideal for that. It's definitely not the best programming book ever, which some people say. The exercises are pretty good, though.
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I've been doing C++ since 93. What's changed that makes you feel this way?
Everything, man. Everything. From the perspective of pulling some C++ programmer in 1993 into 2024, and dropping them into a large C++ code base consistently written with the latest C++ idioms. (And yes, this is humorous exaggeration. But the name of C++ is apt. A C language dedicated to accumulating features.)
I just don't understand how someone could have been working in C++ and not picked up the largest changes even just by osmosis. My code-based "upgraded" to C++11 about a year ago, but I can still read C++17 and am not intimidated by C++20 fragments. YMMV I suppose.
> Why is everyone in such a rush? Because we live under an economic system that says you must produce value for capital or die. This is all very good advice. AND, I think we would have many fewer bad programmers and many more good ones if fewer Knuths were spending eight to ten hours a day mopping floors at fast food restaurants for $7.25 an hour, or writing garbage JavaScript for fly-by-night startups for $65,000 a…
Can you name any social structure in which this is not true? Even medieval monks who are participating in a completely different society have to do the chores.
> Knuths were spending eight to ten hours a day mopping floors
I don't believe this happens and I know quite a few eccentric and unsocial smart people. Much more likely is them to spend the next 10 years at a relatives house speed running Mario.
This essay holds a special place in my heart, since I first read it as a teenager when I was just starting to learn to code. Re-reading it now, I was surprised to see references to Malcom Gladwell, since I didn’t remember Outliers becoming a thing until much later. Then when I saw the reference to Ratatouille, I realized the article had been updated since its posting in 1998. The original is still available on archiv…
I resent Gladwell to this day, possibly because I was assigned to read him in high school. He is quoted too much -- the 10,000 hours thing is just a meme at this point, for me anyway.