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When as the last time understanding how threading works helped you in your day to day job? I ask earnestly as a professional self taught developer who doesn’t k

When as the last time understanding how threading works helped you in your day to day job? I ask earnestly as a professional self taught developer who doesn’t know how threading works and has never needed to

lostgame 7y ago
I’m guessing you don’t do a lot of work in games or media. o.o Geez, how about even a network call that doesn’t interrupt a UI thread?
- uwuhn 7y ago
  GCD and Operation Queues :)
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
mav3rick 7y ago
Any one working on any sort of back end infra needs to know this. Ask yourself how a simple webserver can process multiple incoming requests efficiently ? Or an app wants to do a network call without blocking it's UI from being updated.
- rmilejczz 7y ago
  So what does it mean to “know how threads work”? Do I really need a CS degree to use Go routines or redux sagas? Tbh I wonder constantly if I should get a CS degree. I’ve been working for 4.5 years now and while I feel competent it’s hard to determine the value of things like this. I can profile my code and optimize it, I can determine if a request is blocking and I can fix it using whatever tools are provided in the language or it’s ecosystem so what good does it do me to “know how threads work”? Hope I’m not coming across as combative, I really genuine want to better understand this perspective of “developers should have CS degrees”
  - mav3rick 7y ago
    Threads, processes and OS primitives are a big part of your foundational knowledge. In your own words, you are only limited at attacking an problem by the tools and language primitives afforded to you. What about thinking for yourself when those tools have limitations ? For example, when you have a "heisenbug" very few tools can help you fix it. However, if you understand how threads work, what data they share, you have a higher chance of solving the problem. Your profilers etc. are useless in this scenario. I realize this is HN so the notion of "why do I need this" is king. It's hard to show someone the world outside when they are so closed in their bubble.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - rmilejczz 7y ago
      Do you think I’ve never had a difficult to debug problem? Sure it might have been easier to solve with the knowledge of a CS degree but that’s hard to reason about since I lack one (aside: perhaps you should reconsider your perspective on bubbles friend, it’s not as easy as “looking” at something to escape your own limits and biases) but I was still able to solve it. I do see validity in what you’re saying but I fail to see how it’s as important as you seem to make it out to be. Is it really worth tens of thousands of dollars of debt and 4 years of time spent just to be able to debug stuff faster than your average bear?
      - mav3rick 7y ago
        Your employer may think it's better if you debug stuff faster. That may or may not directly lead to better career growth. I can't make the CS education choice for you. And I have no personal beef with you or anyone who is self taught. You asked me a question and I replied with a context and situation. Cheers.

lostgame 7y ago

I’m guessing you don’t do a lot of work in games or media. o.o Geez, how about even a network call that doesn’t interrupt a UI thread?

uwuhn 7y ago
GCD and Operation Queues :)
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

mav3rick 7y ago

Any one working on any sort of back end infra needs to know this. Ask yourself how a simple webserver can process multiple incoming requests efficiently ? Or an app wants to do a network call without blocking it's UI from being updated.

rmilejczz 7y ago
So what does it mean to “know how threads work”? Do I really need a CS degree to use Go routines or redux sagas? Tbh I wonder constantly if I should get a CS degree. I’ve been working for 4.5 years now and while I feel competent it’s hard to determine the value of things like this. I can profile my code and optimize it, I can determine if a request is blocking and I can fix it using whatever tools are provided in the language or it’s ecosystem so what good does it do me to “know how threads work”? Hope I’m not coming across as combative, I really genuine want to better understand this perspective of “developers should have CS degrees”
- mav3rick 7y ago
  Threads, processes and OS primitives are a big part of your foundational knowledge. In your own words, you are only limited at attacking an problem by the tools and language primitives afforded to you. What about thinking for yourself when those tools have limitations ? For example, when you have a "heisenbug" very few tools can help you fix it. However, if you understand how threads work, what data they share, you have a higher chance of solving the problem. Your profilers etc. are useless in this scenario. I realize this is HN so the notion of "why do I need this" is king. It's hard to show someone the world outside when they are so closed in their bubble.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - rmilejczz 7y ago
    Do you think I’ve never had a difficult to debug problem? Sure it might have been easier to solve with the knowledge of a CS degree but that’s hard to reason about since I lack one (aside: perhaps you should reconsider your perspective on bubbles friend, it’s not as easy as “looking” at something to escape your own limits and biases) but I was still able to solve it. I do see validity in what you’re saying but I fail to see how it’s as important as you seem to make it out to be. Is it really worth tens of thousands of dollars of debt and 4 years of time spent just to be able to debug stuff faster than your average bear?
    - mav3rick 7y ago
      Your employer may think it's better if you debug stuff faster. That may or may not directly lead to better career growth. I can't make the CS education choice for you. And I have no personal beef with you or anyone who is self taught. You asked me a question and I replied with a context and situation. Cheers.