4 ms·

It's easy to feel nostalgic for the old days, but what really was better back then? Really, the only advantage you had back then is that you often had no other

It's easy to feel nostalgic for the old days, but what really was better back then? Really, the only advantage you had back then is that you often had no other choices but to learn to program computers in order to use them. It's much easier to program computers today, and it's much easier to learn to program, but the only problem here is that you're faced with a hundred or a thousand different alternatives for how to learn to program, or how to solve your task in ways that don't involve learning to program. I like showing off the Apple II to younger programmers. You turn it on and immediately you start writing code. This had the benefit of immediacy, but it was worse in almost every other conceivable way. Basic was horrible and didn't let you do structured programming. It was easy to lose your program. It was hard to make changes and iterate. Easier to start, but much harder to develop mastery.

aew4ytasghe5 4y ago
> the only problem here is that you're faced with a hundred or a thousand different alternatives for how to learn to program. This is a well studied and absolutely serious issue called decision fatigue [1]. You seem to be downplaying it's consequences by a large margin, most likely because you do not understand it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision_fatigue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision_fatigue
- klodolph 4y ago
  The comment was really good right up until the point where you started speculating about whether I understand the point you’re making. You could just delete the second sentence there, and nothing of value would be lost from the otherwise high-quality comment!
  - aew4ytasghe5 4y ago
    That's how you know i'm not sentient.
detourdog 4y ago
I'm nostalgic for the excitement. I don't believe things were better. I think things are about to make a major leap that will turn the past 25 years of development into a blip.
wruza 4y ago
Which-way still is a problem, even for experienced developers. Do you believe it’s easier to develop mastery now? If old programming was a cellar, modern programming is a dungeon, each corner leading to another dungeon. Losing a program is not a big deal, in contrast to losing or accumulating wrong experience. Continuing the analogy, we dreamed for our experience to see the light, but that never came true. I think that’s where the nostalgic sentiment comes from.

aew4ytasghe5 4y ago

> the only problem here is that you're faced with a hundred or a thousand different alternatives for how to learn to program. This is a well studied and absolutely serious issue called decision fatigue [1]. You seem to be downplaying it's consequences by a large margin, most likely because you do not understand it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision_fatigue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision_fatigue

klodolph 4y ago
The comment was really good right up until the point where you started speculating about whether I understand the point you’re making. You could just delete the second sentence there, and nothing of value would be lost from the otherwise high-quality comment!
- aew4ytasghe5 4y ago
  That's how you know i'm not sentient.

detourdog 4y ago

I'm nostalgic for the excitement. I don't believe things were better. I think things are about to make a major leap that will turn the past 25 years of development into a blip.

wruza 4y ago

Which-way still is a problem, even for experienced developers. Do you believe it’s easier to develop mastery now? If old programming was a cellar, modern programming is a dungeon, each corner leading to another dungeon. Losing a program is not a big deal, in contrast to losing or accumulating wrong experience. Continuing the analogy, we dreamed for our experience to see the light, but that never came true. I think that’s where the nostalgic sentiment comes from.