Programmers: Before you turn 40, get a plan B

Re:Programmers: Before you turn 40, get a plan B by silentbicycle on Wednesday June 10, 2009 @07:07AM (#650808)

It's probably worth noting that all programmers above a certain age predated the option to learn programming at home with a PC. That caused the number of new (but not necessarily good) programmers each year to explode.

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Re:Programmers: Before you turn 40, get a plan B by brl on Wednesday June 10, 2009 @07:27AM (#650824)

There is a sweet spot I think between the introduction of cheap personal computers (Apple II, Commodore, TRS-80, etc) and the wide availability of the internet starting in the mid 90s.

In the 80s and early 90s, affordable computers existed but there wasn't so much you could do with one. The list of activities looked something like:

1) Play Choplifter 2) Play Loderunner 3) Learn BASIC

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Re:Programmers: Before you turn 40, get a plan B by bcl on Wednesday June 10, 2009 @11:27AM (#651129)

I have to disagree totally. This is exactly the time frame where I learned assembly language (Atari 800) and C (Atari ST, etc.). As a programmer these machine were excellent tools for learning how the guts of the machine really worked, teaching yourself how to program and sharing information with other enthusiasts. Lets face it, how many of today's younger programmers have a clue what a index register is, or even how a cache is used?

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Re:Programmers: Before you turn 40, get a plan B by Elepsis on Wednesday June 10, 2009 @03:35PM (#651620)

You completely missed his point. He's saying because you didn't have eighty bajillion websites, fancy games, and Facebook to waste your time on, kids who were just playing around on a computer were much more likely to start learning something like BASIC (or, as you mentioned, assembly and C). Now those same kids are posting YouTube comments that make me fear for our future. :)

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Re:Programmers: Before you turn 40, get a plan B by bcl on Wednesday June 10, 2009 @04:11PM (#651702)

If that was really his point, then you are correct that I missed it. I took it as saying there wasn't much to do with them.

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Re:Programmers: Before you turn 40, get a plan B by brl on Wednesday June 10, 2009 @05:06PM (#651792)

Yeah, sorry. I was thinking about it from the perspective of a 13 year old who has never touched a computer taking his new Vic-20 out of the box and hooking it up to the TV for the first time.

Programming was a natural thing to attempt to do since there was little else you could use a computer for at that time.

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Re:Programmers: Before you turn 40, get a plan B by Keyframe on Wednesday June 10, 2009 @08:31AM (#650881)

I couldn't agree more with you. I think whole ZX/C64 and later Atari/Amiga era yielded best programmers we have today.

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Re:Programmers: Before you turn 40, get a plan B by HeyLaughingBoy on Wednesday June 10, 2009 @02:18PM (#651470)

There wasn't much you could do with one? You must have a complete lack of imagination. Let's see what I did back then:

- A menu-driven File Management system because I was sick of typing commands.

- Checkbook management system to make balancing my account easier

- Heating & Cooling timer thermostat control

- More stuff I can't remember any more

Oh, by the way, they were all written in BASIC!

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Re:Programmers: Before you turn 40, get a plan B by gruseom on Wednesday June 10, 2009 @12:51PM (#651309)

That caused the number of new (but not necessarily good) programmers each year to explode.

Your implication is exactly backwards, from what I've observed. People who learned programming as a kid for the joy of it are much more likely to be good programmers. People who went into it for job training are much more likely to suck.

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Re:Programmers: Before you turn 40, get a plan B by silentbicycle on Wednesday June 10, 2009 @01:01PM (#651330)

I'm not implying that it caused there to be more bad programmers, just that it caused the number of programmers overall to explode, and that probably adds a lot of noise to any observations about older vs. younger programmers.

I agree with you, but I also started learning to program with a Commodore 64 when I was six, so I'm probably a bit biased. :)

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