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> In reality, everything—networking, databases, browsers—has become so much harder than in the old days. When I first learned computers, it was opening Notepad,
by skydhash 3mo ago
> In reality, everything—networking, databases, browsers—has become so much harder than in the old days. When I first learned computers, it was opening Notepad, creating an HTML file, and loading it. These days, people start with Python.
That’s because all the low hanging fruits and most of the high ones have been taken. The only thing left for most people are people’s problems, not technical ones.
Complex solutions that are easy to use but hard to understand are easily available (and useful). While the simpler ones require some elbow grease and the will to learn every knob.
In the old day, you mostly have the bios and some memory buffer to do graphics, now you have complete solutions like SDL. But that is supported by a big tower of abstractions.
- jdw64 3mo agoAs things become more advanced and industrialized, I'm not sure when I'll be able to find a blue ocean
- skydhash 3mo agoCurrently, I’m trying to learn more about the technology I use (Computer organization, OS, codebase of various software), some advanced topics that I really like (distributed systems, compilers, control of dynamic systems), and refreshing my knowledge from college (math, physics and electronics). The primary reason is that I spent a lot of time on top of the tower, that I never really learned what goes into it. It’s quite uplifting to have another perspective on a practice you’ve been doing dogmatically. And the latest thing that I was able to do thanks to that was diving into Qemu’s code to learn how they implemented AVR emulation and understand everything easily. This week, I’m exploring OpenBSD’s PCI implementation.
- jdw64 3mo agoWhat's your secret to keeping that passion alive? I guess I'll have to find my own way too
- skydhash 3mo agoMostly constraints. You put yourself in a situation where you lack something and then you try to solve that problem. The whole “receiving fish” and “having to learn how to fish”. Also putting yourself in a room where you’re the ignorant one (even if the room is metaphorical). Convenience is a nice road to complacency, even if it really helps with time management. The trick is to make it gradual, not immediately jump in the deep end.