5 ms·

Let’s hope you never have to parse an archaic binary format then

mynameisvlad 3y ago
Most people, in fact, do not have to do this. That’s an exceptionally rare thing to do that I would estimate a fraction of a percent of developers will ever encounter.
- foobarbecue 3y ago
  I would have put the number at 75% rather than a fraction of a percent. What do all these people do, these "developers" that never have to use bitstrings in python, deal with encodings, endianness, interface with hardware, etc.? Are they all UI people?
  - mynameisvlad 3y ago
    > use bitstrings in python, deal with encodings, endianness, interface with hardware is nowhere even remotely close to > parse an archaic binary format The goalposts are on the other side of the field.
    - foobarbecue 3y ago
      In my experience, most files in userspace are in an archaic binary format. And most hardware talks archaic binary.
      - mynameisvlad 3y ago
        Most developers interacting with files are going to be doing it through a higher level API, so while sure, technically they're stored like that, it's not like that's what the developer actually has to deal with. And most developers don't interact with hardware day to day, no. That's an exceptionally small set of people.
        foobarbecue 3y ago
        It hurts to be called exceptionally small XD But also... everyone interacts with hardware whenever they use a a computer. I think our difference of opinion has to do with abstraction layers here. Just so you know where I'm coming from, I work on web apps in java, python, and js, C++ desktop applications, and I operate a mars rover using various domain specific languages. Before switching to engineering I was a scientist and had to deal with data collection in the lab and field from all sorts of instrumentation which often required understanding low-level protocols and the movement of bits and bytes. It's hard for me to imagine the world you're describing... sounds like it's full of script kiddies.

Most people, in fact, do not have to do this. That’s an exceptionally rare thing to do that I would estimate a fraction of a percent of developers will ever encounter.

foobarbecue 3y ago
I would have put the number at 75% rather than a fraction of a percent. What do all these people do, these "developers" that never have to use bitstrings in python, deal with encodings, endianness, interface with hardware, etc.? Are they all UI people?
- mynameisvlad 3y ago
  > use bitstrings in python, deal with encodings, endianness, interface with hardware is nowhere even remotely close to > parse an archaic binary format The goalposts are on the other side of the field.
  - foobarbecue 3y ago
    In my experience, most files in userspace are in an archaic binary format. And most hardware talks archaic binary.
    - mynameisvlad 3y ago
      Most developers interacting with files are going to be doing it through a higher level API, so while sure, technically they're stored like that, it's not like that's what the developer actually has to deal with. And most developers don't interact with hardware day to day, no. That's an exceptionally small set of people.
      - foobarbecue 3y ago
        It hurts to be called exceptionally small XD But also... everyone interacts with hardware whenever they use a a computer. I think our difference of opinion has to do with abstraction layers here. Just so you know where I'm coming from, I work on web apps in java, python, and js, C++ desktop applications, and I operate a mars rover using various domain specific languages. Before switching to engineering I was a scientist and had to deal with data collection in the lab and field from all sorts of instrumentation which often required understanding low-level protocols and the movement of bits and bytes. It's hard for me to imagine the world you're describing... sounds like it's full of script kiddies.