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IMHO programming comes down to understanding logic, breaking down many-step problems into their smallest elements and being able to express a process in a flow
by appstorelottery 3y ago
IMHO programming comes down to understanding logic, breaking down many-step problems into their smallest elements and being able to express a process in a flow or state chart. There is an old saying "behave yourself or I'll replace you with a very small script", which I assume comes from the Unix world. ZSH and shells are surprisingly powerful in this respect. Perhaps consider automation technologies like Zapier and Automator on the Mac? I suppose it's all about making ones (and others) lives easier with the minimum of effort.
Here's a little anecdote as an example. I was consulting on a job to increase efficiency, I noticed that there were changes that were being made by hand to PDF invoices generated by a system which could not be changed. I can't recall the exact changes, however it was trivial for me to chain together a PDF editing service with Zapier to automate bulk changes to invoices (the business was growing and the amount of invoices was increasing significantly each week). The entire process took less than an hour and saved hours worth of work each week for the admin staff. Hence the quote in the previous paragraph, a small script or automation did in fact replace a manual task for an admin person (in this case I didn't automate anyones job away thankfully ;-).
How to get better at technology is a very general question; but I'm assuming you mean technology as it applies to business - which apparently is supposed to be all about increasing efficiency. Technology for entertainment is a completely different game, etc. etc.
- BLKNSLVR 3y ago+1 here for "breaking down many-step problems into their smallest element". If you can do this, then the technology to solve each element is much easier to determine, and it'll also be easier to ask (Google, ChatGPT, coworkers) more specific questions that provide more specific answers.
- Eddy_Viscosity2 3y agoAccording to Gall's law, breaking things down to simple elements is not only the best way, but the only way. "A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to start over with a working simple system."