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As a software developer and new father, even though I'm lucky to work in a very intellectully rewarding field, I'm starting to feel a net negative feeling about

As a software developer and new father, even though I'm lucky to work in a very intellectully rewarding field, I'm starting to feel a net negative feeling about computers. I think back to the excitement of 8-year-old me with a BBC Micro and a BASIC prompt and wonder what I can help my (still very young) child to discover in a few years. Looking at the majority of software experiences available I feel some amount of dispair. Is he going to find satisfaction in a blank screen when contemporary computers are jostling for attention and employing all kinds of dark patterns to subvert mental space? Will be be as excited about putting a pixel on a screen or writing a byte on a disc when there's AR and VR, and who knows what's around the corner? And then something like this comes along. This is something I can see us exploring together, that rewards creativity and doesn't try to impose anything. I'm so glad there are people making esoteric software with depth. Thank you, hundredrabbits. (I've not actually tried Orca, but it looks very cool)

purplezooey 8y ago
Well I hope you didn't teach him to spell disk with a c :)
- indalo 8y ago
  If only there was a country out there that preferred the c over the k. There may even be hints in the gp post of where that may be!
- ryall 8y ago
  HDD/SDD disk with a 'k' Floppy/Compact disc with a 'c'
- afandian 8y ago
  Hello from the UK! Fingers crossed American English won't have completely taken over the world by the time he's learning to spell! Actually, being a non-American Anglophone country where American English is a vehicle for lots of technology has had some interesting consequences. For example, we have the word "programme" for "schedule", but "program" for "computer instructions". I think there are other examples.
ascar 8y ago
Don't lose hope. A lot of us folks got into CS through playing computer games and thinking "how the hell does this even work". My first "programming" experience was modifying the scripts for my Diablo 2 bots. Imho an interest in figuring stuff out, building things and some capability in abstract thinking are way more important than an interest in programming language at a young age.
crooked-v 8y ago
Also see Minecraft with redstone circuits. Kids regularly build elaborate contraptions inside the game, ranging up to entire game-within-a-game devices that use moving blocks as "screens" and require hitting in-game buttons to control.
- Jarwain 8y ago
  Learning about logic gates via Redstone was a major contributing factor towards me doing well in my logic design class
shakna 8y ago
Absolutely. My own daughter is too young, by my nieces danced around screaming when the robot they made spun in a circle, or when they got an LCD to flash 'HELLO'/'GOODBYE'. Micropython opened a new world for them.
fit2rule 8y ago
Look at antirez for inspiration. He builds and maintains what is, arguably, a complex, relatively boring stack used everywhere for building larger, also complex systems. He still has time to hack together a fantasy console for his kids, motivated I think, by the same forces that prompted your lament: http://github.com/antirez/load81.git http://github.com/antirez/load81.git .. dig in, submit a PR, and leave the despair behind. Your kids can still learn computing just as you did ...
aliceffekt 8y ago
I've created orca and this message resonated with me, and how I feel about computers today. Thank you for saying so.

purplezooey 8y ago

Well I hope you didn't teach him to spell disk with a c :)

indalo 8y ago
If only there was a country out there that preferred the c over the k. There may even be hints in the gp post of where that may be!
ryall 8y ago
HDD/SDD disk with a 'k' Floppy/Compact disc with a 'c'
afandian 8y ago
Hello from the UK! Fingers crossed American English won't have completely taken over the world by the time he's learning to spell! Actually, being a non-American Anglophone country where American English is a vehicle for lots of technology has had some interesting consequences. For example, we have the word "programme" for "schedule", but "program" for "computer instructions". I think there are other examples.

ascar 8y ago

Don't lose hope. A lot of us folks got into CS through playing computer games and thinking "how the hell does this even work". My first "programming" experience was modifying the scripts for my Diablo 2 bots. Imho an interest in figuring stuff out, building things and some capability in abstract thinking are way more important than an interest in programming language at a young age.

crooked-v 8y ago

Also see Minecraft with redstone circuits. Kids regularly build elaborate contraptions inside the game, ranging up to entire game-within-a-game devices that use moving blocks as "screens" and require hitting in-game buttons to control.

Jarwain 8y ago
Learning about logic gates via Redstone was a major contributing factor towards me doing well in my logic design class

shakna 8y ago

Absolutely. My own daughter is too young, by my nieces danced around screaming when the robot they made spun in a circle, or when they got an LCD to flash 'HELLO'/'GOODBYE'. Micropython opened a new world for them.

fit2rule 8y ago

Look at antirez for inspiration. He builds and maintains what is, arguably, a complex, relatively boring stack used everywhere for building larger, also complex systems. He still has time to hack together a fantasy console for his kids, motivated I think, by the same forces that prompted your lament: http://github.com/antirez/load81.git http://github.com/antirez/load81.git .. dig in, submit a PR, and leave the despair behind. Your kids can still learn computing just as you did ...

aliceffekt 8y ago

I've created orca and this message resonated with me, and how I feel about computers today. Thank you for saying so.