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Seriously, I remember programming in constrained environments, for example in a calculator, and how that seemed to boost my creativity. I wonder if something is
by andrepd 4y ago
Seriously, I remember programming in constrained environments, for example in a calculator, and how that seemed to boost my creativity. I wonder if something is not lost (in terms of learning) by having such hugely powerful systems with any non-trivial functionality a simple library download away.
- kazinator 4y agoOr, as another example, try processing a file of hexadecimal numbers in POSIX standard Awk. Another one: a few months ago I wrote an Awk function which can increment an alphanumeric string, like "A0Z" -> "A1A" -> "A1B" ... I had to write a BEGIN block which populates global hashes for looking up the successor of a character, and whether it wraps around in its class. By character, I mean string of length 1, of course; there are no characters in Awk.
- trimir2022 4y agoThis is why professors try to limit what students can use in their assignments. And then students (and the internet) turns around and chastises the professors for putting restrictions which the students will never encounter in real life.
- jstarfish 4y agoIt is. Constraint begets creativity. A box needs to be defined in order for one to think outside of it.