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I once volunteered with a older woman. She’d been a computer programmer in the 70s, using punch cards and, later, Pascal. Then she had kids and stopped working
by zztop44 3y ago
I once volunteered with a older woman. She’d been a computer programmer in the 70s, using punch cards and, later, Pascal.
Then she had kids and stopped working for a while and the technology moved on without her. Now she’s like any other old person, doesn’t know how to use a computer and gets flustered when eg: trying to switch from the browser back to Word. Her kids and grandkids clown on her for being hopeless with computers.
I asked her what it was she found difficult about modern computers compared to what she worked with 50 years ago. She said it’s the multitasking. The computers she had worked with just did one thing at once.
- yantrams 3y agoInteresting story. Thanks for sharing this. I have a somewhat similar story with my failure to transition from paltformers / sidescrollers to 3D games. I just couldn't do it.
- dekhn 3y agoI worked with somebody who developed MULTICS but struggled constantly to do even the most basic tasks on a Mac even after using Macs for a decade. It was painful to watch them slowly move a mouse across the screen to the apple, take about ten seconds to click it, and then get confused about how to see system info.
- titzer 3y agoIndeed. I like the fact that my stove has only the knobs and buttons on it (other than a 7-segment LED display). I am master of my stove because I am pretty sure I have explored the complete state space of it by now.