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Exact same path for me. Now I'm hyper-pragmatic and feel like I've plateaued somewhat as a developer - I'm producing systems that work well and fulfill clients

Exact same path for me. Now I'm hyper-pragmatic and feel like I've plateaued somewhat as a developer - I'm producing systems that work well and fulfill clients' needs but I'm finding building them isn't the exciting challenge it once was. Where now?

quanticle 15y ago
Programming contests [1] can a fun and challenging diversion. 1. http://aichallenge.org/ http://aichallenge.org/
olliesaunders 15y ago
Assuming you mean you’re writing more concrete (less abstract) code as a means of productivity, if you want to go back to writing abstractions, you might need to go into academia. That seems to be the only place where the necessary years of thought go into creating abstractions that actually stand up to the problems they intend to solve. I’d cite Haskell and GraphiViz as examples of this. Personally I’m also interested in deductive databases and ontology but, on the whole, those are too ambitious even for academia these days, which I think is a shame because to me logically organizing information is probably one of the most important problems in IT since the web was created.
- pnathan 15y ago
  Deductive databases - prologish systems? It seems that a good prologish system could solve large classes of "business rules" problems pretty easily.
  - olliesaunders 15y ago
    Prolog is great for being a really early logic programming language but compared to modern languages it just isn’t very clever or powerful. If you’re interested in logic programming have a look at Mercury: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2959167 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2959167
biot 15y ago
I find I'm in a similar mindset. What I've found is that once I stop learning, things become boring. Yes, I know I can take that interface, hook it up to this database, and with a bit of logic glue make a wonderful app come alive. The only challenge in that kind of work where you already know how to do every piece is overcoming the sheer boredom from going through the motions. So what I think is the solution is to go meta. Step back and ask why you're having to write the same code to pump out the same kinds of apps. What is the commonality between all the various apps you're writing? Now solve that problem. The ultimate iteration of this, if done successfully, is a system that takes a design plus a formal specification of an app's functionality and automagically makes it work. Now you're working at a higher level of abstraction. I don't yet know what happens when you get bored of that. Perhaps by then you'll have developed your own AI.
- abp 15y ago
  Perhaps by then you'll have developed your own AI. No, I think you're maintaining the abstractions you built before that point. Look at all the frameworks that get developed for many years before they're abandoned.

quanticle 15y ago

Programming contests [1] can a fun and challenging diversion. 1. http://aichallenge.org/ http://aichallenge.org/

olliesaunders 15y ago

Assuming you mean you’re writing more concrete (less abstract) code as a means of productivity, if you want to go back to writing abstractions, you might need to go into academia. That seems to be the only place where the necessary years of thought go into creating abstractions that actually stand up to the problems they intend to solve. I’d cite Haskell and GraphiViz as examples of this. Personally I’m also interested in deductive databases and ontology but, on the whole, those are too ambitious even for academia these days, which I think is a shame because to me logically organizing information is probably one of the most important problems in IT since the web was created.

pnathan 15y ago
Deductive databases - prologish systems? It seems that a good prologish system could solve large classes of "business rules" problems pretty easily.
- olliesaunders 15y ago
  Prolog is great for being a really early logic programming language but compared to modern languages it just isn’t very clever or powerful. If you’re interested in logic programming have a look at Mercury: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2959167 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2959167

biot 15y ago

I find I'm in a similar mindset. What I've found is that once I stop learning, things become boring. Yes, I know I can take that interface, hook it up to this database, and with a bit of logic glue make a wonderful app come alive. The only challenge in that kind of work where you already know how to do every piece is overcoming the sheer boredom from going through the motions. So what I think is the solution is to go meta. Step back and ask why you're having to write the same code to pump out the same kinds of apps. What is the commonality between all the various apps you're writing? Now solve that problem. The ultimate iteration of this, if done successfully, is a system that takes a design plus a formal specification of an app's functionality and automagically makes it work. Now you're working at a higher level of abstraction. I don't yet know what happens when you get bored of that. Perhaps by then you'll have developed your own AI.

abp 15y ago
Perhaps by then you'll have developed your own AI. No, I think you're maintaining the abstractions you built before that point. Look at all the frameworks that get developed for many years before they're abandoned.