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The article underestimates kids -- but the sentiment is understandable given the short history of computing. These guys witnessed the birth. Now things are va

The article underestimates kids -- but the sentiment is understandable given the short history of computing. These guys witnessed the birth. Now things are vastly improved, just like how you open the hood of a car and it looks like an amorphous plastic object ("Back in my day, you could see how everything worked."). So while I enjoy the nostalgia, I suspect kids will be tinkering far into the future. That kids have the web to learn from is still amazing to me (I can't imagine programming without it) -- and it is itself a great platform for tinkering.

plesn 17y ago
> Now things are vastly improved Depends on the metric. If you have to pay 10 times the price for spare parts because the whole module has to be changed and the garage can't even repair anymore, that's hardly an improvement. I'm persuaded that ecologically the times of black boxes, when you change instead of repairing won't last that long. Perhaps I'm still too optimistic.
dhotson 17y ago
I'm so glad that web browsers have the 'View Source' feature. Anyone can see how a web page works under the hood and see that it's not magic.
lsc 17y ago
have you ever tried to fix a modern car? it's really not that hard. sure, you need a manual, and yeah, there are parts you can't fabricate with a good machine shop now, but it's still pretty accessible.
- evanrmurphy 17y ago
  makes sense, it's just intimidating because you open the hood and it resembles a source file with all the whitespace removed.
  - lsc 17y ago
    the thing is, compared to what you see in the computer industry these days (I'm given to understand this wasn't always the case) the manuals for fixing cars are /ridiculously good/ "Does the car start? if so, go to page 45, if not, go to page 2." etc... There's a word for it but I call it "choose your own adventure documentation" - It's quite effective, even an inexperienced mechanic can solve most problems when given the factory service manual. (I'm speaking of the factory service manual here, The much easier to obtain Chilton brand "Book of Lies" is considerably less useful, but still much better than most of what you get with a computer.)

plesn 17y ago

> Now things are vastly improved Depends on the metric. If you have to pay 10 times the price for spare parts because the whole module has to be changed and the garage can't even repair anymore, that's hardly an improvement. I'm persuaded that ecologically the times of black boxes, when you change instead of repairing won't last that long. Perhaps I'm still too optimistic.

dhotson 17y ago

I'm so glad that web browsers have the 'View Source' feature. Anyone can see how a web page works under the hood and see that it's not magic.

lsc 17y ago

have you ever tried to fix a modern car? it's really not that hard. sure, you need a manual, and yeah, there are parts you can't fabricate with a good machine shop now, but it's still pretty accessible.

evanrmurphy 17y ago
makes sense, it's just intimidating because you open the hood and it resembles a source file with all the whitespace removed.
- lsc 17y ago
  the thing is, compared to what you see in the computer industry these days (I'm given to understand this wasn't always the case) the manuals for fixing cars are /ridiculously good/ "Does the car start? if so, go to page 45, if not, go to page 2." etc... There's a word for it but I call it "choose your own adventure documentation" - It's quite effective, even an inexperienced mechanic can solve most problems when given the factory service manual. (I'm speaking of the factory service manual here, The much easier to obtain Chilton brand "Book of Lies" is considerably less useful, but still much better than most of what you get with a computer.)