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" Programming isn't that hard" Whoa! doesn't that depend very much on what exactly you mean by "programming" and which specific program you are trying to creat

" Programming isn't that hard" Whoa! doesn't that depend very much on what exactly you mean by "programming" and which specific program you are trying to create ?

axod 17y ago
Pick a webapp. Lets take twitter or facebook, or even youtube. I'm sure there's some really interesting problems when you drill down, and it'd take a fair while to conquer the problems, but it's just a large mountain - just takes longer to climb. I'm sure most of us could build a facebook/twitter/youtube clone if we decided to. The hard bit of course would be getting people to use it. The world is absolutely littered with fantastic clever well written programs, that no one uses. This is why I think programming is far easier than convincing someone to use it and all that other non-programming stuff, and why I personally am far more interested in the non-technical side of the equation. In comparison, the technical side is trivial.
- sanswork 17y ago
  People always assume this with sites like youtube/facebook/twitter/etc but they forget that the most interesting problems tend to come from the requirements of scaling. From my experience most people seem to have their wall at which point they can't possibly conceive of a better way to scale X until someone comes along and goes "Try this". My experience also says this level is pretty low for most people.
- holygoat 17y ago
  Webapps are not the only thing to program. Heck, they aren't even the only subject of a startup
- bad_user 17y ago
  > Pick a webapp. Google :) > The world is absolutely littered with fantastic clever well written programs, that no one uses. The world is also littered with twitter/facebook/youtube clones that no one uses. What sets apart the wannabes from the successful ones is (among other things) the implementation. I find much joy in doing clever things. If those things end-up being used by other people then I literary have an orgasm. But doing something simple that happens to end-up popular because of happening at the right time ... that's really a turn-off (look honey, this website of mine got really popular so now I have to maintain it ... oh joy). Fortunately that happens less and less because the low-hanging fruits are already taken.

" Programming isn't that hard" Whoa! doesn't that depend very much on what exactly you mean by "programming" and which specific program you are trying to create ?

axod 17y ago

Pick a webapp. Lets take twitter or facebook, or even youtube. I'm sure there's some really interesting problems when you drill down, and it'd take a fair while to conquer the problems, but it's just a large mountain - just takes longer to climb. I'm sure most of us could build a facebook/twitter/youtube clone if we decided to. The hard bit of course would be getting people to use it. The world is absolutely littered with fantastic clever well written programs, that no one uses. This is why I think programming is far easier than convincing someone to use it and all that other non-programming stuff, and why I personally am far more interested in the non-technical side of the equation. In comparison, the technical side is trivial.

sanswork 17y ago
People always assume this with sites like youtube/facebook/twitter/etc but they forget that the most interesting problems tend to come from the requirements of scaling. From my experience most people seem to have their wall at which point they can't possibly conceive of a better way to scale X until someone comes along and goes "Try this". My experience also says this level is pretty low for most people.
holygoat 17y ago
Webapps are not the only thing to program. Heck, they aren't even the only subject of a startup
bad_user 17y ago
> Pick a webapp. Google :) > The world is absolutely littered with fantastic clever well written programs, that no one uses. The world is also littered with twitter/facebook/youtube clones that no one uses. What sets apart the wannabes from the successful ones is (among other things) the implementation. I find much joy in doing clever things. If those things end-up being used by other people then I literary have an orgasm. But doing something simple that happens to end-up popular because of happening at the right time ... that's really a turn-off (look honey, this website of mine got really popular so now I have to maintain it ... oh joy). Fortunately that happens less and less because the low-hanging fruits are already taken.