4 ms·

I come from more of a designer stand point and I've realized that sometimes I've had "cool" ideas but when I go to plan out how that would look and the process

I come from more of a designer stand point and I've realized that sometimes I've had "cool" ideas but when I go to plan out how that would look and the process behind it in a programming language, it gets quite complicated pretty fast. I can think of the coolest UI's and 'experiences' but when you go to plan those out and map out the structure you soon realize stuff is harder than it appears on the outside. Kind of like a commercial I've seen recently that shows a couple walking into their house and everything they touch or use expands showing all the intricacies of modern conveniences. Things are so easy to do nowadays without knowing really 'how' they work. I think this is an interesting point in our history. We can pick up anything nowadays without having a clue as to how it works. We lose sight of what it takes to bring something from idea to reality. More people need to become aware of how things work. This kind of makes me rant about how a lot of people I see constantly refuse to learn how things work. I see friends that have cars and they break and they just take it to a mechanic and let the mechanic worry about knowing how it works. In a sense that's nice but in another sense it's scary. I still may take my car to a mechanic but I at least know how it works to a certain depth and what could cause the problem. The same scenario for computers to proper zombie invasions. I'm guilty as much as the rest but I still try to keep a handle on things.

znq 15y ago
>I think this is an interesting point in our history. We can pick up anything nowadays without having a clue as to how it works. We lose sight of what it takes to bring something from idea to reality. More people need to become aware of how things work. 100% with you on that. But it's not just a recent development. Robert M. Pirsig's book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" from 1974 deals with exactly that "problem" or attitude many people have nowadays. The book is in some parts kinda slow and hard to read, but I still recommend it to everyone. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_and_the_Art_of_Motorcycle_Maintenance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_and_the_Art_of_Motorcycle_M...
johnbender 15y ago
"This kind of makes me rant about how a lot of people I see constantly refuse to learn how things work. I see friends that have cars and they break and they just take it to a mechanic and let the mechanic worry about knowing how it works" To me it sounds like you're making a really good case for OSS, particularly on the desktop. I recently took my first stab at patching a desktop application written in Qt that I use everyday (I'm a web dev) and it was extremely educational.
wladimir 15y ago
You raise some valid points, which I've also wondered about. However I personally don't think the scary thing is the people that don't want to understand. That's their own choice. It does mean that people that do understand that area (even a bit) can sell them bullshit. Then again, we are only human. Everyone has some areas where they (knowingly or unknowingly) are at the top of the abstraction scale. There are just too many details the world is built on. On the other hand I am scared of companies trying to close down all ways to find out how something works. Either through laws, or technical means such as DRM. When it's no longer possible to dive into the details when you want, knowledge becomes something restricted to elites. Companies would love their customers to handle their technology like magic. To be able to sell them what they want without ever being called bullshit, and being able to sell new devices instead of customers repairing them. That's why I love open source. Nothing is magic, and I'm not dependent on a specific organization to solve my problems. That doesn't mean I do understand all technology I depend on, but if I need to dive into a specific thing I can.

znq 15y ago

>I think this is an interesting point in our history. We can pick up anything nowadays without having a clue as to how it works. We lose sight of what it takes to bring something from idea to reality. More people need to become aware of how things work. 100% with you on that. But it's not just a recent development. Robert M. Pirsig's book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" from 1974 deals with exactly that "problem" or attitude many people have nowadays. The book is in some parts kinda slow and hard to read, but I still recommend it to everyone. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_and_the_Art_of_Motorcycle_Maintenance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_and_the_Art_of_Motorcycle_M...

johnbender 15y ago

"This kind of makes me rant about how a lot of people I see constantly refuse to learn how things work. I see friends that have cars and they break and they just take it to a mechanic and let the mechanic worry about knowing how it works" To me it sounds like you're making a really good case for OSS, particularly on the desktop. I recently took my first stab at patching a desktop application written in Qt that I use everyday (I'm a web dev) and it was extremely educational.

wladimir 15y ago

You raise some valid points, which I've also wondered about. However I personally don't think the scary thing is the people that don't want to understand. That's their own choice. It does mean that people that do understand that area (even a bit) can sell them bullshit. Then again, we are only human. Everyone has some areas where they (knowingly or unknowingly) are at the top of the abstraction scale. There are just too many details the world is built on. On the other hand I am scared of companies trying to close down all ways to find out how something works. Either through laws, or technical means such as DRM. When it's no longer possible to dive into the details when you want, knowledge becomes something restricted to elites. Companies would love their customers to handle their technology like magic. To be able to sell them what they want without ever being called bullshit, and being able to sell new devices instead of customers repairing them. That's why I love open source. Nothing is magic, and I'm not dependent on a specific organization to solve my problems. That doesn't mean I do understand all technology I depend on, but if I need to dive into a specific thing I can.