Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How a blacksmith learned to code

joshuakemp.blogspot.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–46 of 46 posts

Re: How a blacksmith learned to code

#41

Post by madaxe »

invalidOrTaken wrote: post #2

Frankly, I'd be more interested in "How a developer learned to forge metal."

Software development, metalwork, carpentry, all have the same base skills, of planning, patience, and perseverance.

I do all, and many more such engineering/mechanical/creative type things, and I know many developers who are as adept at hacking in the real as in the aether.

Anyway, my point I guess is that it's all the same domain, and the skills are eminently transferable, and the internet fills in the knowledge blanks to a large extent.

Re: How a blacksmith learned to code

#42

Post by falcolas »

invalidOrTaken wrote: post #2

Frankly, I'd be more interested in "How a developer learned to forge metal."

My own story is pretty simple.

I lived in California, and found Ardenwood Forge nearby. The blacksmith there (who you've likely seen before if you watch Mythbusters) was willing to teach people for what felt like a tiny amount of money, and Scott was a great teacher.

The biggest thing that I had to learn was "how to know when its done" - which can range from when it's functional to when it's functional and form is beautiful as well, or anywhere in between. There's some of that in programming as well, but "it works" and "the tests pass" are hard and fast stopping points compared to "Do I add another twist to this, or should I add a scroll instead?"

The biggest thing I miss from smithing is creating something physical. Watching a program form and execute perfectly is fun, but there's something simply magical about taking a letter punch and turning it into a elegant scribe.

Sadly, I have not continued beyond learning the basics, but I still look on the craft with a smile, and hope that some day I can spend the time to do it again.

Re: How a blacksmith learned to code

#43

Post by ciclista »

clarry wrote: post #35
ciclista wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm currently learning how to weld as well (full time program). There's definitely something very satisfying in learning how to build things with your hands.

Indeed. Thinking back what once got me into programming as a kid (and what still keeps me interested) was the idea that with a reasonably powerful computer and some skill & time, I could create any software imaginable. It wasn't a special affection to software in particular, but to making things -- and computers made making things very accessible because once you had a computer, you had all the tools you needed. Now…

I started as a kid as well. One of the wonderful things about computers being self-contained learning environments is that there's such a wide range of possibilities for expressing your intellectual curiosities and ideas.

Now that I'm a bit older though, I am enjoying the physicality of working with my hands, producing something tangible and having something that can outlast me, instead of code that most likely will just last some years.

After I'm done with my welding training, I'd like to do at least some introductory machining classes. Perhaps even a furniture making course. I have to good fortune of living very close my community college, and as long as I can work part time as a developer (albeit at odd hours) I want to keep learning how to build things with my hands.

Re: How a blacksmith learned to code

#44

Post by gknoy »

This was an amazingly inspiring article. Thank you for writing it. It was astounding to see the degree to which you threw yourself in. Your points about marketing and joining meetups EARLY seemed especially insightful. And, you top it off with, "And then go build at least two awesome things that solve people's problems".

That is awesome. Well done!

Re: How a blacksmith learned to code

#45

Post by NAFV_P »

Fools, this is just marketing dressed up as an "inspiring story".

This guy sounds like a self-help guru, he doesn't sound like a programmer. Oh look, there's a book he has written which is available on Amazon.

He also suggests Zed Shaw's Ruby tutorial a couple of paragraphs after mentioning Rails. What the hell is this guy smoking?

The road to success he describes is linear, with no branching points. A complete lack of flexibility or discovery, the exact opposite of learning programming.

Re: How a blacksmith learned to code

#46

Post by toddan »

RyJones wrote: post #19
toddan wrote: post #3

everybody is learning howto code but when will people learn how to solve hard problems. I would rather see people learning complex math and physics before learning how to code. creating various crud applications is not really that hard.

so very, very little of day-to-day coding is what I bucket as CS problems. It's mostly turn the crank part assembly that's needed. Not that CS problems aren't out there, but your architects should be decomposing those for more junior people.

Why junior people?
Post reply on HN