41–50 of 136 posts
> Thanks to Sam Altman, David Greenspan, Aaron Iba, Jessica Livingston, Robert Morris, Peter Norvig, Lisa Randall, Emmett Shear, Sergei Tsarev, and Stephen Wolfram for reading drafts of this. PG, you got the Stephen Wolfram to read this? If so, perhaps you can have a conversation with him about making Mathematica open source :~)?
> Perhaps the optimal solution is for big companies not even to try to develop ideas in house, but simply to buy them.
What's good for YC is good for the country!
I completely agree with this. However, I have disdain for the word "programmer" to describe what I do. I am a "software developer" which describes it much better and indicates much of what you've said here. A "programmer" is a monkey that writes x+2=y a developer has domain knowledge over the problem he is solving. Let's change the terminology to fit the job.
I completely agree with this. However, I have disdain for the word "programmer" to describe what I do. I am a "software developer" which describes it much better and indicates much of what you've said here. A "programmer" is a monkey that writes x+2=y a developer has domain knowledge over the problem he is solving. Let's change the terminology to fit the job.
Pg isn't speaking about programmers as in code monkeys, but about programmers as in hackers. Using other terminology to speak about programmers is not necessary, as programming shouldn't be disdained as an activity; you're probably better enhancing your terminology by going back to using the word "programming" without fear.
I suppose I wrote that response as a knee-jerk reaction to the twinge I get in my left shoulder every time I hear the word "programmer". I program and I code but I also paint and write but painting does not make me an artist and writing does not make me an author. Regardless, I agree with you after taking a breath and composing myself enough to slip back into regularity of terminology fearlessness.
I completely agree with this. However, I have disdain for the word "programmer" to describe what I do. I am a "software developer" which describes it much better and indicates much of what you've said here. A "programmer" is a monkey that writes x+2=y a developer has domain knowledge over the problem he is solving. Let's change the terminology to fit the job.
Multitasking is a myth. Editing code on demand is possible but to design a program is a process that requires all cylinders of the analytic and creative mind. To be in the zone is almost like a trance where I could start speaking tongues at any moment.
I used to write my research papers (in linguistics) this way, I'd make piles of useless notes, writing and rewriting sections of it while never having anything to show for it. Then when I understood all of it, I'd write the paper (say 10-45 pages) as fast as I could type, usually in a single sitting. I'd have to go back and edit it and such, but the bulk of the work was getting all of the problem and my solution to i…
If you have the foundations cold, then you can make a word for each foundational concept, and a syntax for each way the foundational concepts interact. Then you've started the kind of bottom-up programming pg describes.
This is one of the ways in which programming is different from other research. In programming, when I define a term(/function/word), it bloody well means that. In linguistics, if I define a notion, well, whether or not it means anything at all is exactly the point of the research.
> Thanks to Sam Altman, David Greenspan, Aaron Iba, Jessica Livingston, Robert Morris, Peter Norvig, Lisa Randall, Emmett Shear, Sergei Tsarev, and Stephen Wolfram for reading drafts of this. PG, you got the Stephen Wolfram to read this? If so, perhaps you can have a conversation with him about making Mathematica open source :~)?
PG, you just got me wondering about feedback. When you let people you trust or respect read drafts of your essays, what kind of feedback do you expect? How does the feedback affect your essays?
I take responses pretty seriously. I've killed whole essays friends thought were bad. Usually I just have to rewrite a sentence or two.
> Sometimes when you return to a problem after a rest, you find your unconscious mind has left an answer waiting for you. This happens to me on so may occasions in may different areas. While programming, if I have a problem I'll sleep on it, wake up, and see the problem in a whole new light. Also, before writing an essay for class, I will read the prompt throughly. This way my brain starts form sentences without cons…
To me sleeping is the greatest problem solving technique ever invented. I have even lost count of how many times this has worked for me. If companies had any sense, they would allow employees to take cat naps.