olavk

19 ms·

121.
by olavk 8y ago
I don't see this is a real problem in professional development. The program owner or customer decides whether the behavior of the program is correct or not - not the programmer and not "the computer".
122.
by olavk 8y ago
But wasn't it used for introductory CS courses? Perhaps someone can chime in about how it worked.
123.
by olavk 8y ago
My background is as a self-thought programmer. Never had any formal education related to software, but have worked professionally as a developer for many years. This gives some solid pragmatic experience, but the "fundamentals" te
124.
by olavk 8y ago
It sounds like you just don't like Python? Any high level language add limits on one level but allows you to be creative on another level. Choose your poison or enjoy the creative freedom of assembler. Djikstra was objectively wrong. L
125.
by olavk 8y ago
The only advice I can give is, do not set goals like a chapter a week or n exercises a day. Sometimes a section or exercise is just hard and you have to take the time necessary.
126.
by olavk 8y ago
The reviewer basically says that anyone who gave the book just one star is an idiot who "doesn't get it". "Smarter people than you like this book, so you are wrong." Which might very well be true...but it is not rea
127.
by olavk 8y ago
Well he suggest himself it is due to annoyed students. Since apparently the book is not used as much in introductory classes anymore, less people are forced to read it before they are ready.
128.
by olavk 8y ago
It is definitely challenging and I'm not sure it is appropriate for beginners unless they are geniuses. But the challenging part is not learning Scheme (which is even simpler than Python if not quite as nice to read), the challenge is
129.
by olavk 8y ago
I worked through the book in my spare time some years ago, and yes it probably took me hundreds of hours. I don't know the exact amount of time, but it was definitely in that range. I did not have any CS or math background, but a lot o
130.
by olavk 8y ago
No that is not the point of Python. The point of Python was to create a language which was simple, readable and maintainable, easy to learn for beginners, but not limiting. It was the first mainstream language (I believe) where the design w
131.
by olavk 8y ago
I you have finished SICP (including exercises) I will posit you must be a pretty decent programmer. (Which is not necessarily the same as a good developer, but that is a different discussion.)
132.
by olavk 8y ago
Two points: 1) Scheme is really really simple to learn. If learning a new language is a major obstacle, you will not be able to finish the course anyway, since it includes implementing multiple small languages. 2) Some of the tasks would be
133.
by olavk 8y ago
To some extent, but take a find like the Oxyrhynchus Papyri https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxyrhynchus_Papyri - it is basically a giant trash heap of unorganized papyrus fragments. It was discovered in 1896 and it still
134.
by olavk 8y ago
An Egyptologist told me there are enough unstudied papyri in archives to keep all researchers occupied for the next 100 years. Basically there is no need to dig anymore - the limiting factor is not finding the scrolls, it is studying them t
135.
by olavk 8y ago
It took me many months to work through the book with exercises, and I found it quite challenging. Maybe I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I was already a developer with many years of practical experience at the time. Didn&#
136.
by olavk 8y ago
I'm not sure if you are arguing that the language matters or not, but isn't one the exercises to implement a Lisp interpreter? Changing this to another language would make the task much harder if not practically impossible.
137.
by olavk 8y ago
And not only Romans! According to the Icelandic historian Snorre Sturlason, Thor and Odin (the Norse gods) were actually Trojans nobles which ended up in Scandinavia, and the Danish royal family descends from them. According to Geoffrey of
138.
by olavk 8y ago
Interest in Roman history was never lost. Access to Greek writings was lost to some extent in western Europe in medieval times, but even then it was known through Roman sources and retellings.
139.
by olavk 8y ago
This is not something particular to America. Europeans have always stressed the continuity from antiquity. The pope uses the title "Pontifex Maximus" which was one held by Ceasar. Emperors (like the Holy Roman Emperor and the Zar)
140.
by olavk 8y ago
> I have the impression that basic German is quite technical. What does this mean? > English has about 3 times the vocabulary compared to German. This may be technically true, but as a user of a language, you are limited by your activ
141.
by olavk 8y ago
It is just a question of orthography. In German, compound nouns are written without space, as a single word. In English, they are usually (but not always) written with space. So "Christmas tree" is "Weinachtsbaum". This
142.
by olavk 8y ago
No, a "more radical event" will not convince creationists. There is already evidence enough to convince any reasonable person - more evidence of any kind will not change anything.
143.
by olavk 8y ago
So the (male) programmers were wearing makeup during the interview, and this gave a higher success rate? And they were reading from a script rather than responding to questions? Are you sure this actually happened? To be honest this sounds
144.
by olavk 8y ago
I assume you consider yourself a "logical actor" and the people you disagree with "emotional actors"? But I don't see how political leaning can be anything but emotional. Logic does not tell you what goals you aim f
145.
by olavk 8y ago
Thank you very much for bringing this to my attention!
146.
by olavk 8y ago
Great to hear. I would love to hear feedback from someone without CS background.
147.
by olavk 8y ago
COBOL developers are highly sought after and well compensated due to the number of legacy systems still around. Many COBOL developers are nearing retirement, so if you are young and know COBOL you will be attractive. Almost no new developme
148.
by olavk 8y ago
Se discussion previously on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17448439
149.
by olavk 8y ago
> Of course i believe in evolution, i went to a school where they told me to believe it. Can I ask in what country you went to school? Sounds like a strange approach to teaching biology.
150.
by olavk 8y ago
Unfair! Perl can be perfectly readable and maintainable by the person who wrote the code. It is just that the language has been deliberately designed [1] to make it maintainable only by the same person who wrote the code. [1] http:/

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