4 ms·
> It was imagined that programming would become easy enough that anyone could learn to do it. Arguably LLMs take us further away from that than we've ever been
by ErroneousBosh 6mo ago
> It was imagined that programming would become easy enough that anyone could learn to do it.
Arguably LLMs take us further away from that than we've ever been. All they do is automate copying and pasting in shit from StackOverflow.
We were closer to everyone being able to learn how to program computers in the mid-80s when everyone had one and they started up with a BASIC prompt.
- chickensong 6mo agoAh yes, the 80s, when everyone had a computer.
- ErroneousBosh 6mo agoWell, yeah. The home computer revolution. Literally everyone had a ZX Spectrum, or Commodore 64, or a BBC Micro if their parents were rich and thought that having the same as they had at school was a good idea.
- chickensong 6mo agoIf you change "literally everyone" to "a minority" we can agree.
- ErroneousBosh 6mo agoWell, no, because it wasn't a minority. They were cheap and ubiquitous, unless I suppose you were in one of "Iron Curtain" countries.
- chabska 6mo agoA quick google query says 15% of US households own a personal computer in 1989.
- ErroneousBosh 6mo agoOkay, well, it was far more than that in the UK and Europe. I suppose it's a bit like television, it would have been more popular where it was invented.
- jen20 6mo agoAround 5 million ZX Spectrums were sold between 1982 and 1992. If all were sold in the UK (they weren’t), that would put the penetration around 25% based on the number of households in 1990.
- ErroneousBosh 6mo agoOne specific model of ZX Spectrum, which is one specific make and model of home computer. Did you live in the UK in the 1980s?
- rng-concern 6mo agoAsking chatgpt, in UK in late 80s, it would be 20-25% across all computers, depending on definition of "computer". A 1/4 of households is still high. It may have been higher in your neck of the woods.
- jen20 6mo ago> Did you live in the UK in the 1980s? Yes. > One specific model of ZX Spectrum I do not believe this to be the case, that number appears to include the 128K and the Amstrad variants also.
- adampunk 6mo agoMy house did not have a computer in it until 1992. I knew many people who did not have a computer in the house in the 1980s. Computers were expensive!
- ErroneousBosh 6mo agoEven in the early 80s they were 100 quid, that was nothing.