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GeneralRe: Do you still like to code? Pin
Member 1220302016-Jan-17 21:11
Member 1220302016-Jan-17 21:11 
GeneralRe: Do you still like to code? Pin
PixelPoint21913-Jan-17 3:36
PixelPoint21913-Jan-17 3:36 
GeneralRe: Do you still like to code? Pin
Paul Kemner13-Jan-17 3:31
Paul Kemner13-Jan-17 3:31 
GeneralRe: Do you still like to code? Pin
agolddog13-Jan-17 3:47
agolddog13-Jan-17 3:47 
GeneralRe: Do you still like to code? Pin
R. Giskard Reventlov13-Jan-17 5:32
R. Giskard Reventlov13-Jan-17 5:32 
GeneralRe: Do you still like to code? Pin
Dramoth196413-Jan-17 18:23
Dramoth196413-Jan-17 18:23 
GeneralRe: Do you still like to code? Pin
carlospc197013-Jan-17 5:23
professionalcarlospc197013-Jan-17 5:23 
GeneralRe: Do you still like to code? Pin
scott_m557413-Jan-17 5:44
scott_m557413-Jan-17 5:44 
I would say that I still like to code, but I don't like it in the way that I used to.

For the longest time my favorite movie was WarGames (and it's still on my list). That movie emphasized how cool and mysterious computers were at the time. Computers couldn't really do much back then, but that's what made them so accessible and fun. To program a computer, you had to understand computers. You had to know what was going on with bits and bytes and graphics adapters and protocols and whatnot, but those were all little things that you could grasp and play around with. But it created an intimacy between man and machine. Even high-level languages like BASIC felt rudimentary enough to represent the binary structure of a computer.

These days everything is abstracted. Every abstraction is abstracted. These days you can go your entire career, for example, knowing nothing more than Javascript, CSS and HTML. Sure, there's lots more to learn, but you generally don't need to learn it unless you're the main developer on a large project. These days computers are complex, networks are complex. No one can possibly know more than a fraction of it. These days there isn't enough time to play around with everything to really understand it because there's so much to understand. I miss the simplicity of older times.

It's like college. I loved college. It was so different from high school. I had more freedom. I discovered that there was so much more to this world than I had realized. College was very exciting...when I was 18. I've gone back to college a few times to take a course here and there. The magic isn't there anymore because I am a different person. It's disappointing, but it's okay because as a different person I understand more and I am a better student.

So now I am a career developer. Now I face the challenge of professional growth. It isn't enough to track down a bug; I need to make my code as bug-free as possible with every single release. It isn't enough to deliver on a project; I need to make code as efficient and manageable as possible with every line I write. So I miss the simplicity and mystery of what computers used to be. But as computers have grown, so have I, and the challenges continue to present themselves. I definitely still enjoy that.
GeneralRe: Do you still like to code? Pin
Gerry Schmitz13-Jan-17 6:17
mveGerry Schmitz13-Jan-17 6:17 
GeneralRe: Do you still like to code? Pin
Bill Eckard13-Jan-17 6:37
Bill Eckard13-Jan-17 6:37 
GeneralRe: Do you still like to code? Pin
Old Ed13-Jan-17 6:50
Old Ed13-Jan-17 6:50 
GeneralRe: Do you still like to code? Pin
JBoyer1113-Jan-17 7:27
JBoyer1113-Jan-17 7:27 
GeneralRe: Do you still like to code? Pin
SeattleC++13-Jan-17 8:20
SeattleC++13-Jan-17 8:20 
GeneralRe: Do you still like to code? Pin
Dramoth196413-Jan-17 18:16
Dramoth196413-Jan-17 18:16 
GeneralRe: Do you still like to code? Pin
roadrunner195616-Jan-17 2:46
roadrunner195616-Jan-17 2:46 
GeneralBest days to travel Pin
User 1013254612-Jan-17 5:42
User 1013254612-Jan-17 5:42 
GeneralRe: Best days to travel Pin
R. Giskard Reventlov12-Jan-17 5:47
R. Giskard Reventlov12-Jan-17 5:47 
JokeRe: Best days to travel Pin
Jeremy Falcon12-Jan-17 6:56
professionalJeremy Falcon12-Jan-17 6:56 
GeneralAPOD Pin
R. Giskard Reventlov12-Jan-17 5:00
R. Giskard Reventlov12-Jan-17 5:00 
GeneralRe: APOD Pin
Rajesh R Subramanian12-Jan-17 11:19
professionalRajesh R Subramanian12-Jan-17 11:19 
GeneralThought of the day Pin
OriginalGriff12-Jan-17 4:55
mveOriginalGriff12-Jan-17 4:55 
GeneralRe: Thought of the day Pin
Tim Carmichael12-Jan-17 5:08
Tim Carmichael12-Jan-17 5:08 
GeneralRe: Thought of the day Pin
MacSpudster12-Jan-17 5:09
professionalMacSpudster12-Jan-17 5:09 
AnswerRe: Thought of the day Pin
megaadam12-Jan-17 5:17
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OriginalGriff12-Jan-17 5:30
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