31–40 of 117 posts
How did Norvig interview JWZ?
Did he use the whiteboarding rituals promoted by Norvig's company?
I don't think this is (1998) if Clojure (2007) is referenced in it.
The title is a bit misleading to me. 10 years is not to "teach yourself programming," it's to "become an expert in programming." Most people do not want to learn programming to become experts, most people want to learn programming to get a job. After getting a job, some will plateau right away, others will plateau after some time, and others still will keep learning even after years and years. The problem is "how lon…
The title is a bit misleading to me. 10 years is not to "teach yourself programming," it's to "become an expert in programming." Most people do not want to learn programming to become experts, most people want to learn programming to get a job. After getting a job, some will plateau right away, others will plateau after some time, and others still will keep learning even after years and years. The problem is "how lon…
This mindset is how we end up with layers upon layers of badly designed and buggy software that underpins almost every aspect of modern life.
Just apply the same reasoning to other areas: Would you want to drive in a bus with a bus driver who just barely got his driver's license? Would you want to use a bridge designed by an architect who knows just enough to complete the job and does not care a bit for more?
It does not take mastery to write one-off scripts that "get the job done". However, they will probably not be a general purpose solution of the problem at hand, ignore corner cases, contain bugs… and the real test comes when requirements inevitably change.
If you want to write dependable, high-quality, maintainable, reusable software you better know more than the bare minimum.
(note: is comic)
The title is a bit misleading to me. 10 years is not to "teach yourself programming," it's to "become an expert in programming." Most people do not want to learn programming to become experts, most people want to learn programming to get a job. After getting a job, some will plateau right away, others will plateau after some time, and others still will keep learning even after years and years. The problem is "how lon…
I agree with everything you said. Not sure about this though: > I would say that the number of jobs that require the mastery of the craft is not large. Perhaps the number of jobs that require mastery is less well known? i.e. Not advertised as often / not vacant as often. I suppose I'm splitting hairs here in one's definition of "not large", by in my circles (~25 years of dev working experience) there are quite a lot…
>> Learn at least a half dozen programming languages I'm always surprised by how many people disagree with this; they're on the search for that one language they can use for every task. Or even worse, they think they've found it and their search is over, that's a tragic situation given how spoiled we are for great languages today. Clojure (STM / refs, vars, atoms & agents), kdb/q (non-loopy array code), Rust (ownersh…
Languages evolve and it takes time to learn all the quirks. Usually you need a systems language, a scripting/shell language, and a front-end language. Sure you can get good at the entire stack, but that take time. I would say spend 70% of your time to get shit done, then 30% learning/researching.
You don’t necessarily need a separate language for each domain.
The title is a bit misleading to me. 10 years is not to "teach yourself programming," it's to "become an expert in programming." Most people do not want to learn programming to become experts, most people want to learn programming to get a job. After getting a job, some will plateau right away, others will plateau after some time, and others still will keep learning even after years and years. The problem is "how lon…
> And, I would say that the number of jobs that require the mastery of the craft is not large. This mindset is how we end up with layers upon layers of badly designed and buggy software that underpins almost every aspect of modern life. Just apply the same reasoning to other areas: Would you want to drive in a bus with a bus driver who just barely got his driver's license? Would you want to use a bridge designed by a…
The title is a bit misleading to me. 10 years is not to "teach yourself programming," it's to "become an expert in programming." Most people do not want to learn programming to become experts, most people want to learn programming to get a job. After getting a job, some will plateau right away, others will plateau after some time, and others still will keep learning even after years and years. The problem is "how lon…
No, I think it is little bit different.
"Most people think they will get a job and then will become experts after some time of performing the job"
And they are right. But they are mistaken what kind of expert they become -- they are becoming experts at what they are doing which means, if they are mindlessly repeating same things they are becoming experts at mindlessly repeating same things.