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You know, there was a post the other day about how CP is losing popularity compared to SO, and it got me thinking. There are a few of us that's been involved with CP since it was created (looking at you Nish) well before SO or Pluralsight was even thought of. And looking back on it all these years later, it's worth saying that if CP never existed I know for certain I'd never would've been as educated as I became in development. And I imagine there are plenty of others out there that would attest to the same.
As creators, fulfillment comes from knowing how your work impacted others. So @chris-maunder, you should know how CP impacted me. Which is it's given me a place online to rant (a lot  ) over the years but also read and read and read about technology in a manner so much better than simply reading MSDN. It's given me a sense of community online at times I where I didn't find that with my coworkers. And I was never charged a dime for it. Oh, and it's always had better emojis than SO.
So thanks man. Thanks for busting your chops to create CP. It's hard to imagine life as a developer without it.
I hope others take the time to express their thanks as well.
Jeremy Falcon
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Jeremy Falcon, thanks for posting this message. I've just read this through and I completely agree with you having absolutely the same opinion the way you do. I believe that CodeProject is an either outstanding, useful or just unique web site (e.g. there's only one) that will never hopefully loose its popularity compared to the other online Web resources alike. And yes, it's much better than MSDN, Pluralsight or just LinuxAcademy.com, all empowered by Microsoft Corp.
Participating in CodeProject and contributing various articles and technical forums answers is even much more interesting and involving than, for example, just taking courses at Pluralsight and LinuxAcademy, or just reading MSDN documentation.
The number of times, I've found very useful solutions to many programming issues that could not be found elsewhere by continuously surfing the Web.
At last, I've got a little question for you: what "SO" abbreviation means ?  If this is a kind of similar web site as CodeProject, just let me know its full name and address, I just would like to look at, solely for my interest. But, as just I suspect that CodeProject is anyway more interesting and better.
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Thanks for clarification.
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What he said. 
Jeremy Falcon
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SO - Just completely sucks these days, there was a time when SO Like CP used to be a great place to be, there was a LOT of influential people int here, folks like Jon Skeet (Who Hardly posts these days, he just sit's back and earns points for all the answers he ever wrote)
Think is, I don't think it's just Code Project, I think it's all of us, Lidnug (Over on the Li-Platform) that I help run, is only a shadow of what it used to be, many of the really good, community sites and forums, all of which where built on the value of being a community are slowly disappearing into existence, to be replaced by anyone or anything that can give you a quick fix.
From what I see, most modern day devs coming into the industry are no longer interested in the community spirit, they just want to know how to fix their problem, right now and give nothing back in return, it's become a commodity market, dominated by consumers and a dwindling number of producers.
As a high question answerer on Quora, I regularly get emails requesting answers to questions, 90% of them are all disguised versions of "Whats the quickest shortcut to the untold riches that await me being a software developer" or "I have a project to do, whats the quickest/shortcut to complete it and get paid for it"
Code Project, Lidnug, even the MSDN forums are not the shining places of knowledge sharing they once were, we are a dying breed, and it does make me sad to think that one day all this accumulated knowledge will lie dormant and forgotten, the pioneers that built a generation will be all but a blip on the history of the internet, developers will stop innovating (Much to the glee of the Business folk) and instead just be content with stitching together little black boxes, that know one knows about, or cares about how they work, as long as they work.
Developers will just become another factory line production method to make money in the name of commerce, and actual skills will just vapourise into nothing.
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Not just development. "Deskilling" is an accountant mantra: it means you get the same work done for less money by paying robots (or their human equivelant) to do "black-box assembly" work instead of skilled professionals that understandably want to be paid more. That the next generation of products will have to be created by the robots is irrelevant, accountants do not think past the end-of-year results (and their bonuses).
And that harms not only the professions, but the economy as well, because with less money coming in at the bottom end, there is less bought, so more pressure on costs, so more deskilling / outsourcing , so less money at the bottom again.
And you end up with everything being made in the cheapest place (currently China) and quality generally going right down the toilet. 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Indeed. but what can we do, it seems not a lot, beacuse there are now more robots than there are skilled folks doing the job.
Me personally, Iv'e been branching out more and more into teaching and authorship, I fear that in the next 10 years or so, I may even end up leaving software development behind, permanently.
I came into this game from the late 70's with one clear goal, and that was to pass on my knowledge, to work with other newbies, so they wouldn't have to go through the same routine of waiting weeks before you got a reply to your post on your local BBS, or having to spend hours searching usenet for that illusive text file that you saw 2 weeks ago, I always swore that I would pass on my knowledge, my skills and that I would help others avoid the pain I endured to get where I did.
But now like many have said in this thread, there are many of us with years of experience who's answers routinely get down voted on places like SO, simply because they appear on the asker's radar after a google search, but don't answer the asker's question immediately.
At least however, CP is still here, and myself and the rest of the team do what we can to keep Lidnug going, so those of us who do still care, do still have a place we can call home.
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Bingo... And this, to a degree, has been one of those unforeseen consequences of our education systems churning out test scores.
I was watching it happen at Michigan State. When we graduated we had a Senior Design Sequence where we had to keep our code from the previous 2 trimesters, to teach us how bad code decisions in the beginning become hellish impediments in the end. (We wrote a compiler or a DB or an AI system from scratch).
As I was leaving in 1992, they were starting to water it all down, because enrollment was dropping.
But enrollment was dropping because the standards back in HS were dropping. Nowadays kids can't do Algebra after graduating HS, so they are planning to DROP it from college requirements???
This is a school system creating dumb robots. And schools were already designed to keep kids busy until they were old enough to work in factories. But now without Vocational options.
A huge dichotomy is what I see now. Kids in the Robotics club, and EVERY ONE else not even caring about how to use a computer, or being offered a chance to learn how to type. Literally EVERY kid has a computer, and no teacher giving TYPING SCORES as an extra credit???
Then they graduate from college without ever being REALLY challenged. And they don't think about leaving behind a legacy. They want to coast through this job to the next one.
And I believe this is what we are witnessing.
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Agreed. There was a sad tale in today's news that a university in Scotland has dropped a course because no students have managed to pass the end of term exams. Pardon? May be they should check the tutors instead.
And while driving home last night I passed an advertising poster with the words "Learn to code in three months". Damn! I wish that course had been running thirty years ago. It would have saved me a lot of time.
We're philosophical about power outages here. A.C. come, A.C. go.
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Furthermore, being a CodeProject's member and articles contributor for about two years, it significantly benefits to my knowledge, experience as an IT-professional, my education and studies and also career achievements. The same I would also recommended to everyone else
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CP is must 'must go to everyday' site (not just for getting another point). There is always something worth reading in the Lounge; I enjoy The Weird And Wonderful. Like most CPers, I am primarily a reader, not a contributor but I do appreciate the help and advice that the article give. As stated by Jeremy Falcon, CP is easier to work with than MSDN and the community is more helpful than SO. So, I agree with him in thanking @chris-maunder - CP has been an important part of my life for many years. Please pass on thanks to the hamsters as well.
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I originally came here to get MFC stuff way back when (I had a username before my current one which has now been lost). Chris Maunder, Michael Dunn and others got me over the hurdle with the project I was then doing. Since then I've found quite important and useful stuff about various things on many occasions. Now retired I still get help with current projects from here. I'll add my thanks to yours.
Peter Wasser
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell
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Growing up, Code Project was quite literally my virtual home - I'm pretty sure for several months I browsed it more than Google.  I wouldn't have learned how to code if it weren't for this place.
Since I started Uni, it's been harder to stay as active around here as I used to be, but I do have to say that I really, really, love the CP's atmosphere and community - every time I visit it's like a breath of fresh air ![Badger | [badger,badger,badger,badger...]](https://codeproject.global.ssl.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/badger.gif) ![Good Stuff | [The good stuff]](https://codeproject.global.ssl.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/vegemite.gif) . The people here are genuine and friendly, and there doesn't seem to be any off-putting cultural obsession with being "cool and hip and trendy" at the expense of mastering proven tools and concepts. (Not that staying on top of trends is bad, it's just that other communities I'm in *cough cough* ermmhmmm *cough* can occasionally take it to an unhealthy "framework of the week" level where anything that wasn't released yesterday is bad.)
I'm not sure what the behind-the-scenes stats look like, but I sincerely hope this place isn't going downhill - is there a decline in traffic? Do we need more article writers?
Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A.
modified 30-Jul-17 6:21am.
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Oh I don't think it's going downhill (I have no idea), but given the current context of that post it's nice to reminded of stuff.
Jeremy Falcon
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Dear Colleagues,
I completely agree with you all. Special Thanks to Chris Maunder (@chris-maunder) and the other CodeProject staff and supporters as well.
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Jeremy Falcon wrote: it's worth saying that if CP never existed I know for certain I'd never would've been as educated as I became in development. And I imagine there are plenty of others out there that would attest to the same.
Yes.
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
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This is the closest thing I have to a social network (hopefully the analogy doesn't offend!). Something of a home. It's the comfort zone on my left-most tab.
Work rules have kept me from posting articles on what I do (or whatever flavor it takes) - I'd like to exemplify applications that are as reusable as a well written function (or class, if you prefer). About embracing that third of these three states: true, false, don't-care.
Where else but home can you give counsel, rant, offer your two-cents worth and sometimes get a hand full of change hurled swiftly back into your face. Or, an upvote. One can even help a stranger in Q&A - now and then, an answer accepted.
Heck Hell, it's a family, clan, tribe, village, and occasionally a bad neighborhood in a bad part of town, with drive-by down-voters. A cyber world unto itself.
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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W∴ Balboos wrote: Hell, it's a family, clan, tribe, village, and occasionally a bad neighborhood in a bad part of town, with drive-by down-voters. A cyber world unto itself.
You forgot to mention the embarrassing uncles everyone is ashamed of and the scary clowns. And the dickheads.
(Yes, kid sister I never had, they all look like uncle Dick.)
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I think the main difference between CP and others are two:
1. Even you are a newcomer, you can argue with the big ones... You can vote and post and display your opinion (with others you have to cross certain barriers to even post a comment)
2. CP encourages self-made-solutions, and that of course makes it less popular in our instant-world...
Skipper: We'll fix it.
Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this?
Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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I agree CP is great and made a big impact on me, I learned a lot and learn new things every day.
For the people interested in SO (StackOverflow) here is an interesting post by Hans Passant: What is Stack Overflow’s goal? - Meta Stack Overflow[^]
So thumbs up for the creators and maintainers of CP, hurrah (3x) 
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I wouldn't be where I am today (which is pretty good) if it weren't for CP!
Signing up here has been the best thing I've done for my career and hobby.
I end up at SO for quick fixes that I need right this minute, but I come to CP to get educated and gain some long term knowledge.
So thanks Chris and everyone at CP 
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Sander Rossel wrote: I end up at SO for quick fixes that I need right this minute, but I come to CP to get educated and gain some long term knowledge.
Agreed
Jeremy Falcon
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Amen to all you said.
The difference between CP and SO for me is this:
SO is where I go for tiny code snippet examples, particularly in Javascript and Python, but sometimes C# -- almost always related to Linq.
CP is where I go for examples on how to use an entire technology stack or framework - WPF, EF, MVVM, custom controls, interesting ideas, etc.
And of course, nothing beats the forums here on CP. Not just the discussions and cool/fun/humorous/etc things people post, but the forum layout is IMO the "nonpareils" of forums.
Marc
Latest Article - Create a Dockerized Python Fiddle Web App
Learning to code with python is like learning to swim with those little arm floaties. It gives you undeserved confidence and will eventually drown you. - DangerBunny
Artificial intelligence is the only remedy for natural stupidity. - CDP1802
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Exactly. SO is great when you're looking for the one-liner with the weird syntax you can never get right. CP's longer articles are for putting everything into context.
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