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If you can solve a Sudoku puzzle you can program a computer. Secretaries were programming emacs in lisp in the 1970's. Normal people. To some extent the IT i

If you can solve a Sudoku puzzle you can program a computer. Secretaries were programming emacs in lisp in the 1970's. Normal people. To some extent the IT industry is predicated on people being too unmotivated (for whatever reasons) to learn to program. (Something I've never understood. Programming is the best video game?) Now that the computers can talk...

lukeramsden 3y ago
Learning to program does not equate to learning to architect and evolve over many years a non-trivial system, operate it, document it, train others on it, scale it, etc. - “unmotivated” is a bit reductive. In the same way I might enjoy some DIY here and there but don’t want to and shouldn’t be trusted to build new houses, the same goes for non-trivial systems - sometimes you really do just need professionals. That’s not to say you can’t give areas with guardrails to non-software-engineering-professionals if you can teach them git.
- carapace 3y ago
  > “unmotivated” is a bit reductive Well, sure, it's under-specified, I said "unmotivated (for whatever reasons)", eh? I agree with you. When it comes to programming computers it's one of the few areas where I am unabashedly elitist ( https://sforman.srht.site/AnyoneCanCode.html https://sforman.srht.site/AnyoneCanCode.html "For most people learning anything more complicated than Excel is counter-productive." ) My point is that it's not that hard to learn to program, not that it's easy to program well (it's not. I've been at it for over a quarter of a century and I'm still barely capable.) My additional point is that the barrier to entry (other than apathy or disinterest) is the complexity (just to make a website you need to know three or four computer languages!?) My third point is that that complexity is about to vanish in a haze of linear algebra and massive data (the computers can talk now.)

lukeramsden 3y ago

Learning to program does not equate to learning to architect and evolve over many years a non-trivial system, operate it, document it, train others on it, scale it, etc. - “unmotivated” is a bit reductive. In the same way I might enjoy some DIY here and there but don’t want to and shouldn’t be trusted to build new houses, the same goes for non-trivial systems - sometimes you really do just need professionals. That’s not to say you can’t give areas with guardrails to non-software-engineering-professionals if you can teach them git.

carapace 3y ago
> “unmotivated” is a bit reductive Well, sure, it's under-specified, I said "unmotivated (for whatever reasons)", eh? I agree with you. When it comes to programming computers it's one of the few areas where I am unabashedly elitist ( https://sforman.srht.site/AnyoneCanCode.html https://sforman.srht.site/AnyoneCanCode.html "For most people learning anything more complicated than Excel is counter-productive." ) My point is that it's not that hard to learn to program, not that it's easy to program well (it's not. I've been at it for over a quarter of a century and I'm still barely capable.) My additional point is that the barrier to entry (other than apathy or disinterest) is the complexity (just to make a website you need to know three or four computer languages!?) My third point is that that complexity is about to vanish in a haze of linear algebra and massive data (the computers can talk now.)