by nicolethenerd on 5/6/15, 5:04 PM with 238 comments
by michaelangerman on 5/6/15, 6:11 PM
by intrasight on 5/6/15, 5:50 PM
by bliti on 5/6/15, 7:34 PM
- Everything I've learned may be applied to most languages. Meaning that writing testable code generally translates from BASIC to Javascript.
- Programming should always make you feel stupid. Feeling comfortable with something means that you stopped learning new things.
- Experience != Knowledge. My biggest issue with some older programmers is that they tend to confuse experience with a language, codebase, or framework with knowledge. The more you learn the less experience you will have. Think about it. You start learning Javascript after years of working with C#. What does that experience work for now? You will surely have an understanding of all the basics. But you have not yet been bitten by the == and === operators. You have to get that new experience. As time passes you will realize that it becomes a game of knowing enough versus being experienced enough.
- New technologies are exciting. A lot of people are scared by them. They feel they will be replaced. Their comfy jobs taken away. I'm not scared of this. Change is exciting because it means that I will have the chance to learn something.
- New languages might be rehashed versions of older ones. But they contain something different: Somebody else did it. That's reason enough to give it a try. Javascript might not be the most universally praised language, and it doesn't really bring much new to the scene. Its still someones interpretation of how a given problem should be solved. You might not agree with it, but that wont stop people from writing lots of JS code.
- Nostalgia is fine. Don't let it get you. Sure, I miss typing BASIC into my old C64, but its no longer relevant. I could pick up demo'ing as a hobby and learn lots of stuff about old chips and memory management tricks. It wont really help me to stay employed much.
- All these new devices are scary! I grew up programming for one kind of device. Now I have to take into account tablets, phones, tvs, and whatnot. Embrace it. Mobile is here to stay. It will keep morphing and completely remove desktop computing as we know it. The same way desktop computers removed mainframes and terminals. It is scary. Try and get excited. There is nothing more mind blowing than watching a several months old child tap on a tablet to play a game.
/old guy rant
by jgrahamc on 5/6/15, 5:30 PM
Yep. That's the key to staying relevant: change with the times.
by bonif on 5/6/15, 5:48 PM
best slogan ever
by ilaksh on 5/6/15, 6:42 PM
I'm 37. I think ageism is a very real problem and I hope people will consider doing more suing even if they don't have to. Some people need to be sued. We need some class actions.
Right from the top down of Silicon Valley ageism is rampant and in your face. For example, Sam Altman has publicly made explicitly agist remarks.
You kids may not think its a big deal now but give it ten years or so. You will see.
Of course in 10-15 years everyone will be in the same boat, being completely ignored by the ASIs.
by Liquix on 5/6/15, 7:35 PM
If you're not interested in purchasing the book, he gave an incredible hour and a half long demonstration of his system at the Fall Joint Computer Conference. Dubbed The Mother of All Demos [1], he displayed (for the first time in the world) remote video conferencing, hypertext, text editing, and a graphical windowing system. In 1968. Definitely worth a watch.
[0] http://www.amazon.com/What-Dormouse-Said-Counterculture-Pers...
by SonicSoul on 5/6/15, 7:47 PM
by biturd on 5/6/15, 8:40 PM
function secondsSince (when) {
var now = new Date ();
when = new Date (when);
return ((now - when) / 1000);
}
Or this is just a very case specific function and the input is already sanitized in a way that is prepared for this function?
github is here: https://github.com/scripting/pagepark/blob/master/lib/utils....
by lrobb on 5/7/15, 1:03 PM
by Decade on 5/6/15, 8:53 PM
Everybody has been influenced by Engelbart, but nobody uses NLS. Merely the ideas went into all the computers that we use today. Engelbart was so frustrated because he had more great ideas, but they were difficult to develop and he couldn’t get funding.
Winer specifically mentions Userland Frontier. It was a useful tool, which I’m sure helped with the development of RSS, just as NeXT Project Builder helped with the development of WWW. The problem with the Engelbart comparison is that there are countless other development environments, many of them free and/or not in a dialect of C and/or available via git, while the Mother of All Demos was unique.
I think the open-sourcing of Frontier was too little, too late. Frontier is an impressive achievement, but I don’t see why it should be interesting to me.
by scarecrowbob on 5/6/15, 8:05 PM
I've played with folks in their late 80s, and most of the folks I play with weekly in a large jazz band are between 50 and 70. I also play bi-weekly with an orchestra with members ranging from 12-82.
Maybe I lack the same perspective I lacked when I was younger (and thought that 45 was pretty old), but I absolutely don't see how 60 is old. 80 is old, maybe, but 60 just isn't that old, and I don't mean that in the attitude sense, as with:
"The ones that love me say I'm really young, and I appreciate that. I think they mean my thinking is flexible, and I'm excited about the future, like a young person might be."
by taurath on 5/6/15, 10:54 PM
by porker on 5/7/15, 7:35 AM
Working in the web industry, the second-hardest thing I find (after pace of change/fascination with "New! Shiny!") is the vision of people can be measured in months to 3-4 years. Applications are not built with the thought they will be running in a decade; it's assumed they'll be rewritten in New Language X with New Architecture Y long before that.
To older programmers: if you work in the web field, how do you handle/deal with this?
by neurocis on 5/6/15, 8:36 PM
by codeonfire on 5/6/15, 6:59 PM
by nickpp on 5/6/15, 7:10 PM
What processes is he using? What tools and underpinnings that allow him to quickly try out new ideas?
by btilly on 5/6/15, 7:29 PM
by jakejake on 5/6/15, 8:33 PM
When we bring on young people they have a ton of energy and are excited to try every new thing which, don't get me wrong, is awesome. But they do occasionally criticize me for moving too cautiously, even though I am plenty excited about trying new things. I always think to myself, call me back in about 15 years and we'll see whether you evolve into the rockstar that you envision yourself to be, or else if you stagnate, burn out, move onto something else, etc. I always hope they do become the rockstar.
by valine on 5/6/15, 8:49 PM
by datashovel on 5/7/15, 2:08 AM
What is the gift that will keep on giving? Write about what you know. Write about your experiences and insights. Even thousands of years from now people may come across your work and given the advances they will be living amongst will almost certainly be interested in what you had to say.
by lurkinggrue on 5/6/15, 8:30 PM
(The artist that did that music video is 74)
by forrestthewoods on 5/6/15, 6:34 PM
by guard-of-terra on 5/6/15, 5:32 PM
by lukego on 5/7/15, 2:29 AM
by chrisbennet on 5/6/15, 11:46 PM
by shanemhansen on 5/6/15, 7:51 PM
I'm not saying that people don't get tired/slower as they get older (I struggle with it), but I don't think it's inevitable.