Human knowledge is evolving incredibly quickly, and has since before computers were even invented. The first computer I played with was the (then new) Commodor

Human knowledge is evolving incredibly quickly, and has since before computers were even invented. The first computer I played with was the (then new) Commodore PET, with 4KB RAM. My elementary school had one, and access to it was like some sort of special privilege. There’s a certain tendency people tend to have, which is to believe that “things were better in the old days,” or “they don’t make ‘em like they used to.” Or “there are no new ideas.” I dunno, for me going back to the pre-smartphone, pre-Google, pre-Internet world… pass. Naturally, there are a wealth of core ideas, algorithms, patterns which have stood the test of time and even evolved and flourished. But our understanding of even basic ideas has significantly changed over time. Personally, I’ve generally elected to not get too caught up with fads, and to focus on understanding fundamental ideas, algorithms, mathematics; how things fit together into robust, efficient, flexible systems.