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Ahem. Google Docs? MS Office Web Apps? Etc? There's quite literally an app or site for almost everything on the internet. It's great that you think your curio

Ahem. Google Docs? MS Office Web Apps? Etc? There's quite literally an app or site for almost everything on the internet. It's great that you think your curiosity and drive for knowledge is somehow unique in this world, but I suspect you're wrong and just have a damn-kids-get-off-my-lawn mentality. The web has only made knowledge and possibility more accessible, not less, and it's naïve to think that it's a dumbed-down version of the "incredible software" you grew up using.

fmoralesc 14y ago
Can you script google docs? That's how I "played with my word processor" when I was a kid (I was a bookish kid and read every manual in my computer; turns out many were about VB scripting and the Windows API... I was intrigued). I suspect many more did. If people had access only to web apps, they couldn't have those kind of experiences; I think that's what the parent commenter points to. Now, I don't actually think these kind of things are becoming extinct, or anything like that: it's easier in many ways nowadays. But the web by itself still has some way to go to fully provide them, also because it is so huge. I've started to rant, so I'll end here.
- icebraining 14y ago
  Can you script google docs? Yes: https://developers.google.com/apps-script/overview https://developers.google.com/apps-script/overview By the way, I started programming in '99, and since I didn't have a computer at the time, I learned JavaScript, since I could run it on IE4 on public machines. So yes, a browser (and, I guess, Notepad) is really all you need! Besides, since then and between PHP/Python/etc shared hosting and tools like Codeanywhere (which can talk to S/FTP servers), a web browser is enough for building web applications. (Of course, the web is far from reaching the potential of desktop development, of course. But it has come a long way already)
  - fmoralesc 14y ago
    > Yes. Neat! I eat my thoughts (It's the kind of thing I miss by using vim for almost everything). EDIT: But it is a separate app...
    - icebraining 14y ago
      Not exactly: "The script editor can be accessed directly at http://script.google.com http://script.google.com, or by launching it from one of the Google products which support built-in access to the script editor, such as Google Spreadsheets and Google Sites." In Spreadsheets, you just need to go to Tools → Scripts → Script Editor.
    - wutbrodo 14y ago
      Not a separate app, in any meaningful sense of the word. I use it extensively for personal use; I have a couple spreadsheets online involving personal data and I just click a button in the menu for spreadsheets to open up the script editor.
- calinet6 14y ago
  If you haven't noticed, you can script the entire web. It's the most "scriptable" platform yet, and it's way more fun and open and flexible to play with than any of the older APIs. If you're the kind of person who looks under the hood, you're going to do it regardless of whether you're working on a desktop word processor or a web app, and it is my strong opinion that these kinds of intelligent and curios people are still coming into this world.
  - fmoralesc 14y ago
    Agreed, of course.
oliwarner 14y ago
Oh please. Google's word processor is barely half the application compared to what I was playing with 15-20 years ago. A proper desktop word processor is a lot more than shoving words on a page. Okay, perhaps that is my "damn-kids" mentality but design and interface metaphor have totally kicked function's ass in the past five years. You don't have to look far to see some major examples of that (Win8, Gnome, anything on a tablet/phone). The applications I'm talking about can only be consider equivalent to a point. So yeah. In terms of productivity (and useful life skills) the software I grew up with is better than what a kid with a tablet has today. I also used to really love browsing Encarta 95. I do look up a ton of stuff on Wikipedia these days but I rarely go there without direction.

fmoralesc 14y ago

Can you script google docs? That's how I "played with my word processor" when I was a kid (I was a bookish kid and read every manual in my computer; turns out many were about VB scripting and the Windows API... I was intrigued). I suspect many more did. If people had access only to web apps, they couldn't have those kind of experiences; I think that's what the parent commenter points to. Now, I don't actually think these kind of things are becoming extinct, or anything like that: it's easier in many ways nowadays. But the web by itself still has some way to go to fully provide them, also because it is so huge. I've started to rant, so I'll end here.

icebraining 14y ago
Can you script google docs? Yes: https://developers.google.com/apps-script/overview https://developers.google.com/apps-script/overview By the way, I started programming in '99, and since I didn't have a computer at the time, I learned JavaScript, since I could run it on IE4 on public machines. So yes, a browser (and, I guess, Notepad) is really all you need! Besides, since then and between PHP/Python/etc shared hosting and tools like Codeanywhere (which can talk to S/FTP servers), a web browser is enough for building web applications. (Of course, the web is far from reaching the potential of desktop development, of course. But it has come a long way already)
- fmoralesc 14y ago
  > Yes. Neat! I eat my thoughts (It's the kind of thing I miss by using vim for almost everything). EDIT: But it is a separate app...
  - icebraining 14y ago
    Not exactly: "The script editor can be accessed directly at http://script.google.com http://script.google.com, or by launching it from one of the Google products which support built-in access to the script editor, such as Google Spreadsheets and Google Sites." In Spreadsheets, you just need to go to Tools → Scripts → Script Editor.
  - wutbrodo 14y ago
    Not a separate app, in any meaningful sense of the word. I use it extensively for personal use; I have a couple spreadsheets online involving personal data and I just click a button in the menu for spreadsheets to open up the script editor.
calinet6 14y ago
If you haven't noticed, you can script the entire web. It's the most "scriptable" platform yet, and it's way more fun and open and flexible to play with than any of the older APIs. If you're the kind of person who looks under the hood, you're going to do it regardless of whether you're working on a desktop word processor or a web app, and it is my strong opinion that these kinds of intelligent and curios people are still coming into this world.
- fmoralesc 14y ago
  Agreed, of course.

oliwarner 14y ago

Oh please. Google's word processor is barely half the application compared to what I was playing with 15-20 years ago. A proper desktop word processor is a lot more than shoving words on a page. Okay, perhaps that is my "damn-kids" mentality but design and interface metaphor have totally kicked function's ass in the past five years. You don't have to look far to see some major examples of that (Win8, Gnome, anything on a tablet/phone). The applications I'm talking about can only be consider equivalent to a point. So yeah. In terms of productivity (and useful life skills) the software I grew up with is better than what a kid with a tablet has today. I also used to really love browsing Encarta 95. I do look up a ton of stuff on Wikipedia these days but I rarely go there without direction.