Most tech content is bullshit • Hacker News Board

Re: Most tech content is bullshit

#281

Post by a-nikolaev » Sun, Jun 07, 2020, 8:18 PM UTC

RNCTX wrote: post #271

a-nikolaev wrote: post #227

A lot depends on the programming language used in the online tech materials. It's very hard to find anything worthy in Python or JS, because for many people it's their first language, and "teachers" are only one lesson ahead of their "students". On the other hand reading something explained in OCaml, Scheme, Erlang, Julia, D or similar niche and not hyped language can be of very high quality. C also tends to be good.…

This is just flat out false. You're showing your (lack of) age here. The nature of niche languages is people who like them run to the next niche when the next niche springs from the aether. And when their blogs and youtube channnels die, so will they wither on the vine. There has always been higher quality documentation for Python things than most languages, because as a community, Python encourages quality documenta…

Okay old man, show me your age and knowledge: do you know about Oleg Kiselyov and his amazing articles? See here: http://okmij.org/ftp/

Re: Most tech content is bullshit

#282

Post by ChrisMarshallNY » Sun, Jun 07, 2020, 8:19 PM UTC

I am in the process of preparing a video class on Core Bluetooth (the native Apple framework).

I thought that I knew it all pretty well, but I found plenty of places that I needed to recalibrate, as I reviewed my materials.

I am now a great deal more confident in my grasp of the technology; thanks to my class.

I do a lot of writing, cast as a "teaching" exercise; even though no one cares. Doing this helps me to understand the material much more comprehensively.

When I teach, I then have a Responsibility. It is even more important to know the material than if I am developing a shipping application.

Speaking of "shipping"...

I write every line of code as "ship quality" code; even if I never have any intentions of shipping it (like test harnesses). That also helps me to make sure that I know what I'm doing. I heavily document my code, because explaining the code is like a built-in "self-peer-review." It helps me to see the code through fresh eyes.

I also write about my personal processes and approach to engineering, as that helps me to focus and make sure that I am speaking from a position of knowledge and experience.

I don't claim expertise I don't have, but I am constantly trying stuff I don't know how to do (I write about that here: https://medium.com/chrismarshallny/thats-not-what-ships-are-...). That's how I learn new stuff.

"The most erroneous stories are those we think we know best -and therefore never scrutinize or question." -Stephen Jay Gould

Re: Most tech content is bullshit

#283

Post by 6510 » Sun, Jun 07, 2020, 8:22 PM UTC

goatinaboat wrote: post #262

tonystubblebine wrote: post #127

Good is hard. When I left O'Reilly Media in 2005 we were just ending a period where many programmers worked with a set of physical O'Reilly books on their shelf. And everyone at O'Reilly could see that their business was being eaten away by free. Stack Overflow didn't exist yet but we could feel it coming. At the time, we hoped that UGC would have some sort of wisdom of the crowd thing that would lead to high quality…

a period where many programmers worked with a set of physical O'Reilly books on their shelf. I’ve never been so productive as I was in those days. Good quality documentation and no distractions. A golden age that we didn’t even know we were in. The modern development paradigm is a dumpster fire in comparison. Thanks for the good work you did back then producing those materials.

In a perhaps futile attempt to solve the problem (contribute to solving it) I came to think of it like this: Web pages have the same kind of content as the first bunch of pages of a book. The entire internet is like that. You reach the largest audience by assuming the reader knows nothing. Eating nothing but appetizers turns out unsatisfying. It gets truly absurd where everyone seems to [further] optimize for delivering as little as possible.

Re: Most tech content is bullshit

#284

Post by RangerScience » Sun, Jun 07, 2020, 8:22 PM UTC

whack wrote: post #279

Call me a cynic, but the whole "think critically and figure it out for yourself" solution is inefficient at best, harmful at worst. Global warming skepticism is exactly the kind of thing that often occurs when people trust their own judgement more than that of subject matter experts. There are very effective ways to get high quality recommendations, with minimal effort on your part. Want to get good medical advice? F…

You're a cynic ;)

Knowledge from experts should feed into "think critically and figure it out", rather than replacing either with the other.

Software has an added bonus of the "works or doesn't" test, so it's easier to (in)validate the results of that thinking than, say, something on the scale of a planet and decades.

Re: Most tech content is bullshit

#285

Post by hn_check » Sun, Jun 07, 2020, 8:31 PM UTC

city41 wrote: post #270

hn_check wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Worrying development? HN has never been particularly enlightened in this respect, and has all of the same trends and superficial articles that emerge on the other networks. The illusion that it's some higher ground has never held true.

Based on your bio, you may be a bit biased in your assessment.

Biased, or simply consistent?

Re: Most tech content is bullshit

#286

Post by polytely » Sun, Jun 07, 2020, 8:32 PM UTC

gregmac wrote: post #214

alibarber wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uggh - this! Maybe I'm so used to it for programming queries, but I've gotten back into electronics and ham radio after a long time, and have always dreamed of owning a decent oscilloscope. Googling 'good digital hobbyist oscilloscope' just now was a frustrating waste of time. It's just pages and pages of regurgitated specs and affiliate links, no useful _actual_ reviews or anything... Take this top 10 result. It's o…

Even though I generally prefer reading to watching, I've found in the past few years that YouTube is better for reviews, and I think it's actually because of this. If you don't actually recognize the channel, you can usually tell if it's worthwhile by subscriber count, the other (types of) videos they've posted, and usually just by watching for tens of seconds. Most paid reviews seem to say so (unlike written blogs),…

You can still get hoodwinked by youtubers[0] who (to the untrained eye) look like they know what they are talking about but are actually grifters[1] wasting your time

[0]: Siraj Raval (700k subscribers!): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWN3xxRkmTPmbKwht9FuE5A

[1]: https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2019/10/16/why-siraj-ravals-...

Re: Most tech content is bullshit

#287

Post by city41 » Sun, Jun 07, 2020, 8:33 PM UTC

jedberg wrote: post #176

leetrout wrote: post #34

I’ve said this for a long time: The people actually doing the work don’t have time to talk about it and the people spending all their time talking about it aren’t doing the work. Of course there are exceptions but I’m extremely skeptical of a lot of stuff I read. Also that the HN bubble will always make readers feel behind when in reality 90% of the industry hasn’t even begun to catch-up. I felt behind with K8S in 20…

> The people actually doing the work don’t have time to talk about it and the people spending all their time talking about it aren’t doing the work. I think that's a really sad and cynical view. I assume you don't spend 16 hours a day writing code. I assume you have hobbies and other interests. For some people, educating others about their favorite topics is their hobby. Writing about their projects is their hobby. H…

Not sure if the blogs from tech companies can really count here. Those articles are made with the company's interest in mind, typically to boost recruiting. In my experience, they are always written on company time.

Re: Most tech content is bullshit

#288

Post by rdiddly » Sun, Jun 07, 2020, 8:34 PM UTC

monadic2 wrote: post #255

rdiddly wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of all the people who got all excited that the internet would "democratize information," most seemed to be thinking on the demand side. And it did come to pass, but very few seem to have anticipated that it would democratize the supply side too. Turns out the much-maligned elitism and gatekeeping of the past were actually performing (with imperfect fairness perhaps) the quality-control function they always purported…

> Turns out the much-maligned elitism and gatekeeping of the past were actually performing (with imperfect fairness perhaps) the quality-control function they always purported to be performing. Do you have an example? I’m getting strong “century of the self” vibes from this post. If you’re referring to “fake news”, you should also acknowledge that the current protests across the nation would not exist at all without…

I don't get the reference. Worry less about "vibes," I guess would be my advice. And consider that if someone says "brown cows eat grass" they're not trying to describe the entire universe; they're actually taking it as a given that your brain will work hard enough to remember that non-brown cows, and non-grass-eating cows, and even brown, non-grass-eating cows exist and have their own stories that are outside the scope of this one.

"Once upon a time, Little Red Riding Hood was going to go to..."

"NOT ALL RIDING HOODS ARE RED AND FRANKLY I OBJECT TO ANYONE WHO MONOLITHICALLY TRIES TO SAY SO AND I'M GETTING A VIBE... SEIZE HIM!"

To teach yourself programming in 1990 you would've gone to a bookstore or library, that employed a buyer/curator, who bought from a distributor, who bought from a publisher, who bought from an author, who probably also dealt with an agent and an editor. Other than the author and his/her own desire to produce something good, there were 3-5 other layers in the process, 3-5 other entities making the decision, should we submit this, should we publish this, should we distribute this, should we buy this and devote shelf space to selling it. Each of those steps is a gate through which only a limited quantity can pass, so whatever else it actually means, the book you pick up off the shelf in 1990 has passed through all those gates. Nowadays excellent and shitty writers alike are free of that.

Re: Most tech content is bullshit

#289

Post by me_smith » Sun, Jun 07, 2020, 8:35 PM UTC

omniscient_oce wrote: post #46

I think it has something to do with this current culture of 'personal branding', wherein a lot of content online aimed at beginners says you should be blogging, writing articles, basically telling people how to do the thing you learnt that day on dev.to, blogs, Twitter, Medium, etc. I don't think it is necessarily bad per se, but it all seems a bit useless? I think there is good value in writing a personal blog, a lo…

Do you have any suggestions for blogs that come from a perspective of a learner, rather than a teacher? I feel like DevLogs in the game dev corner could be an example of that.

Re: Most tech content is bullshit

#290

Post by azemetre » Sun, Jun 07, 2020, 8:38 PM UTC

jjice wrote: post #174

tonystubblebine wrote: post #127

Good is hard. When I left O'Reilly Media in 2005 we were just ending a period where many programmers worked with a set of physical O'Reilly books on their shelf. And everyone at O'Reilly could see that their business was being eaten away by free. Stack Overflow didn't exist yet but we could feel it coming. At the time, we hoped that UGC would have some sort of wisdom of the crowd thing that would lead to high quality…

Seems kind of like the video game crash of 1983[0]. A flood of low quality content that begins to drown out the high quality content. One of the best things about the internet is that anyone can create and publish what they want. One of the worst parts about the internet is that anyone can create and publish what they want. I'm a big fan of books because that is where a lot of experts seem to prefer to publish their…

What are some high quality books you’d recommend that are somewhat recent (last ten years)?

The only ones I can say, that I’ve also read, are YDKJS and Secrets JavaScript Ninja (work in web, but willing to read anything, good information is good information regardless of the tech).