It’s a Unix system I know this
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It’s a Unix system I know this
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Re: It’s a Unix system I know this
#2I had to jump in here, not to argue with the substance of the article[1] but to pull out this one quote that I just can't get behind:
> In popular media, a genius hacker codes some solution from scratch in the space of an hour or two, solving a problem that would otherwise doom the other protagonists. But in reality, programming is slow.
I mean, sure, it's not like The Movies. But hacking is fast! In no other profession can you wake up, sit down at your keyboard, be presented with a new problem no one else has addressed before, and build a machine to solve it. All before dinner. That's just magic. Who else gets to do that? No other engineering profession for sure. Maybe some artists can work that fast, but they're shackled to ideas about the subjective value of their work to others whereas we can watch our creations do their magic with our own eyes.
It's the best job there is.
[1] Which is broadly the same point I just made here, but expressed as one anecdote. I'm saying that this is something we can all share.
Re: It’s a Unix system I know this
#3I had to jump in here, not to argue with the substance of the article[1] but to pull out this one quote that I just can't get behind: > In popular media, a genius hacker codes some solution from scratch in the space of an hour or two, solving a problem that would otherwise doom the other protagonists. But in reality, programming is slow. I mean, sure, it's not like The Movies. But hacking is fast ! In no other profes…
We all get times like that, but capes are like tuxes, you don't get to wear them every day.
Re: It’s a Unix system I know this
#4I had to jump in here, not to argue with the substance of the article[1] but to pull out this one quote that I just can't get behind: > In popular media, a genius hacker codes some solution from scratch in the space of an hour or two, solving a problem that would otherwise doom the other protagonists. But in reality, programming is slow. I mean, sure, it's not like The Movies. But hacking is fast ! In no other profes…
> Who else gets to do that? No other engineering profession for sure.
You've never met that wizard with the machine shop, have you? He'd be insulted if you called him an engineer, but he eats engineers for breakfast.
Re: It’s a Unix system I know this
#5I had to jump in here, not to argue with the substance of the article[1] but to pull out this one quote that I just can't get behind: > In popular media, a genius hacker codes some solution from scratch in the space of an hour or two, solving a problem that would otherwise doom the other protagonists. But in reality, programming is slow. I mean, sure, it's not like The Movies. But hacking is fast ! In no other profes…
I was faced with a problem like that. Heard the description of a task that a colleague was failing utterly to solve, figured I could knock out the bulk of it in a weekend.
Wrapped up the project 6 months later.
I don’t disagree with you, it really is magic what we can do with computers. Just doesn’t always work out like we think it will.
Re: It’s a Unix system I know this
#6I had to jump in here, not to argue with the substance of the article[1] but to pull out this one quote that I just can't get behind: > In popular media, a genius hacker codes some solution from scratch in the space of an hour or two, solving a problem that would otherwise doom the other protagonists. But in reality, programming is slow. I mean, sure, it's not like The Movies. But hacking is fast ! In no other profes…
I was faced with a problem like that. Heard the description of a task that a colleague was failing utterly to solve, figured I could knock out the bulk of it in a weekend. Wrapped up the project 6 months later. I don’t disagree with you, it really is magic what we can do with computers. Just doesn’t always work out like we think it will.
Yup, sometimes a project takes 6 hours, sometimes 6 minutes, sometimes 6 months.
It’s not necessarily always obvious which one.
Re: It’s a Unix system I know this
#7I had to jump in here, not to argue with the substance of the article[1] but to pull out this one quote that I just can't get behind: > In popular media, a genius hacker codes some solution from scratch in the space of an hour or two, solving a problem that would otherwise doom the other protagonists. But in reality, programming is slow. I mean, sure, it's not like The Movies. But hacking is fast ! In no other profes…
> Who else gets to do that? No other engineering profession for sure. You've never met that wizard with the machine shop, have you? He'd be insulted if you called him an engineer, but he eats engineers for breakfast.
I'm getting a taste for that since I got into 3D printing. Just type in some math formulas in a text editor, press a few more buttons, and all of a sudden I get a pivot-fence micro adjustable router table for my Dremel tool. Or I get a doo-hickey that holds a nut and washer, and can screw under my full sized router table to hold the nut in place so I can screw in various pivot-posts or other 3D-printed attachments on the top side. Or make a custom connector for something on my bicycle. Essentially I can fabricate products that just aren't purchasable.
But I really wish I had machine shop skills, as there is so much more you can do with a lathe, stamper, roller, and other equipment with basic input materials.
Re: It’s a Unix system I know this
#8I had to jump in here, not to argue with the substance of the article[1] but to pull out this one quote that I just can't get behind: > In popular media, a genius hacker codes some solution from scratch in the space of an hour or two, solving a problem that would otherwise doom the other protagonists. But in reality, programming is slow. I mean, sure, it's not like The Movies. But hacking is fast ! In no other profes…
> Who else gets to do that? No other engineering profession for sure. You've never met that wizard with the machine shop, have you? He'd be insulted if you called him an engineer, but he eats engineers for breakfast.
Yep - especially those who are experts at jig making. Turns a multi hour project into a simple repeatable one.
Re: It’s a Unix system I know this
#9I had to jump in here, not to argue with the substance of the article[1] but to pull out this one quote that I just can't get behind: > In popular media, a genius hacker codes some solution from scratch in the space of an hour or two, solving a problem that would otherwise doom the other protagonists. But in reality, programming is slow. I mean, sure, it's not like The Movies. But hacking is fast ! In no other profes…
Someone writes up an interesting story about a pretty neat achievement in developing a system under extreme time pressure of which they're understandably proud, and your response is to criticise a sentence from the introductory framing paragraph? To make the same point as the rest of the writeup?
I thought it was a pretty cool story.
Re: It’s a Unix system I know this
#10I had to jump in here, not to argue with the substance of the article[1] but to pull out this one quote that I just can't get behind: > In popular media, a genius hacker codes some solution from scratch in the space of an hour or two, solving a problem that would otherwise doom the other protagonists. But in reality, programming is slow. I mean, sure, it's not like The Movies. But hacking is fast ! In no other profes…
> Who else gets to do that? No other engineering profession for sure. You've never met that wizard with the machine shop, have you? He'd be insulted if you called him an engineer, but he eats engineers for breakfast.
I watch MrPete222 on YouTube. He's certainly capable of whipping things up on the lathe on occasion without drawings, and he's no novice, but it's common for him to spend days or a week making a part that you could design in CAD in fifteen minutes. Same with Abom79, Stefan Gotteswinter, Joe Pieczynski, and Tom Lipton. Dan Gelbart is still using the spot welder he made in his youth 30 or 40 years ago.
Some of these guys "eat engineers for breakfast" but they still can't "wake up, ... be presented with a new problem no one else has addressed before, and build a machine to solve it, all before dinner." The timescale for solving novel problems just seems to be a lot longer. Even building a steam engine from a kit is a matter of weeks on a manual machine.
If you need a key copied, a lock pick ground from a street sweeper bristle, a transfer punch made from drill rod, or a weird left-hand screw with a strange thread pitch, they can probably do that before dinner, yeah. But that's because those are well-understood and fairly simple problems.
CNC machining opens up more possibilities, but the timescale is still longer. You don't want to find out your G-code is buggy by crashing a US$150k milling machine; crashing a mill is more like crashing a truck than crashing a computer. So machinists are generally methodical, patient, and careful.