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What is the specific set of knowledge that delineates those who are "living in the ivory tower" from, to use a term introduced by another poster down-thread, "b
by ddellacosta 5y ago
What is the specific set of knowledge that delineates those who are "living in the ivory tower" from, to use a term introduced by another poster down-thread, "blue-collar programmers?" Do I become an ivory tower programmer as soon as I express any interest at all in functional programming? Or is there some level of FP knowledge ("first-class functions and recursion are acceptable, but no ADTs!") where you start "living in an ivory tower?" Or perhaps if I use these things in an industrial context it's okay, or does simply knowing about monads or Prolog mean I'm relegated to the ivory-tower ghetto?
Does understanding how a database works on a level past what most industrial programmers need to, say, leverage the value of an index make someone an ivory-tower resident? How about understanding how Paxos (ha) or Raft work? For that matter, does reading any computer science paper take me out of the realm of being a "blue-collar" programmer or does it depend on how much the paper stinks of "ivory-tower-ness?"
Have I made my point yet?
- Izkata 5y agoIvory-tower-ness has little to nothing to do with the level you're at, it has to do with being unable to relate to people who aren't at the same level. Reread your comment and note that your examples are entirely about the person said to be in an ivory tower, and not how that person relates to others who don't understand those technical details.
- fao_ 5y agoWooosh
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