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Reading these comments about people relying on SO - a site founded in 2008 - at age 11, doesn't make me feel any younger, and I'm not even that old (inching clo

Reading these comments about people relying on SO - a site founded in 2008 - at age 11, doesn't make me feel any younger, and I'm not even that old (inching closer and closer to my mid-30s). I got into Linux and bash/Python scripting by following tutorials on random shady sites and reading official documentation and manpages. Let's just say it wasn't as seamless as Googling an issue and having a SO thread directly answer my question. Yes, I do realize I now sound like I just said "back in my day, we walked to school, uphill both ways".

Avicebron 4y ago
Yea, it was actually wild when SO came out, because I'd been teaching myself lua pretty much independently, and by the time I got to high school, SO just barely on its way out and immediately everything was a lot easier. Old man yells at cloud, but kids these day won't even have to look at code, everything will be filtered through natural language.
raincole 4y ago
"I feel old" on the internet can mean 15yo to 80yo, so you have all the right to feel old at mid-30s lol When I learned my second programming language (JavaScript), I asked most of my questions via a mailing list. It's quite weird trying to recall it... I almost forgot how mailing list work today.
Mezzie 4y ago
Right? I learned through reading browser documentation in elementary school when CSS and JavaScript were implemented and then running to my dad or internet forums/chat rooms when I ran into topics or problems I didn't understand. None of us knew what we were doing. It was great.
tstrimple 4y ago
Certainly you participated in related forums right? Before SO I was much more involved in online communities like https://gamedev.net/ https://gamedev.net/ which are also at risk due to this sort of bill.
- folkrav 4y ago
  I actually did not, for some reason. I was on a bunch of phpBB forums in high school, but none surrounding programming/tech. I was obsessed with music and gaming way more than IT stuff, back then. I initially learned programming more as a means to an end (my first scripts were to automate backups to an external drive, transfer stuff between Windows/Linux, that kind of stuff), and just generally for my own enjoyment, than a real plan to do anything with it. I don't even think I realized it was a potential career path before I was already out of high school lol

Avicebron 4y ago

Yea, it was actually wild when SO came out, because I'd been teaching myself lua pretty much independently, and by the time I got to high school, SO just barely on its way out and immediately everything was a lot easier. Old man yells at cloud, but kids these day won't even have to look at code, everything will be filtered through natural language.

raincole 4y ago

"I feel old" on the internet can mean 15yo to 80yo, so you have all the right to feel old at mid-30s lol When I learned my second programming language (JavaScript), I asked most of my questions via a mailing list. It's quite weird trying to recall it... I almost forgot how mailing list work today.

Mezzie 4y ago

Right? I learned through reading browser documentation in elementary school when CSS and JavaScript were implemented and then running to my dad or internet forums/chat rooms when I ran into topics or problems I didn't understand. None of us knew what we were doing. It was great.

tstrimple 4y ago

Certainly you participated in related forums right? Before SO I was much more involved in online communities like https://gamedev.net/ https://gamedev.net/ which are also at risk due to this sort of bill.

folkrav 4y ago
I actually did not, for some reason. I was on a bunch of phpBB forums in high school, but none surrounding programming/tech. I was obsessed with music and gaming way more than IT stuff, back then. I initially learned programming more as a means to an end (my first scripts were to automate backups to an external drive, transfer stuff between Windows/Linux, that kind of stuff), and just generally for my own enjoyment, than a real plan to do anything with it. I don't even think I realized it was a potential career path before I was already out of high school lol