Follow Slashdot blog updates by subscribing to our blog RSS feed

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re: "The Ego" (Score 1) 553

???
I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean. I rather despise Obama as a president, but I can't think of any particular scandal...and I mean something *I* consider a scandal, not something that titillates the shocked sensibilities of those who are appalled by a "wardrobe malfunction". The closest I can come is his acceptance of RomenyCare as his health plan (i.e. "ObamaCare"), but while appalling, I can hardly consider that a scandal.

Submission + - The Programming Talent Myth

HughPickens.com writes: Jake Edge writes at LWN.net that there is a myth that programming skill is somehow distributed on a U-shaped curve and that people either "suck at programming" or that they "rock at programming", without leaving any room for those in between. Everyone is either an amazing programmer or "a worthless use of a seat" which doesn't make much sense. If you could measure programming ability somehow, its curve would look like the normal distribution. According to Edge this belief that programming ability fits into a bi-modal distribution is both "dangerous and a myth". "This myth sets up a world where you can only program if you are a rock star or a ninja. It is actively harmful in that is keeping people from learning programming, driving people out of programming, and it is preventing most of the growth and the improvement we'd like to see." If the only options are to be amazing or terrible, it leads people to believe they must be passionate about their career, that they must think about programming every waking moment of their life. If they take their eye off the ball even for a minute, they will slide right from amazing to terrible again leading people to be working crazy hours at work, to be constantly studying programming topics on their own time, and so on.

The truth is that programming isn't a passion or a talent, says Edge, it is just a bunch of skills that can be learned. Programming isn't even one thing, though people talk about it as if it were; it requires all sorts of skills and coding is just a small part of that. Things like design, communication, writing, and debugging are needed. If we embrace this idea that "it's cool to be okay at these skills"—that being average is fine—it will make programming less intimidating for newcomers. If the bar for success is set "at okay, rather than exceptional", the bar seems a lot easier to clear for those new to the community. According to Edge the tech industry is rife with sexism, racism, homophobia, and discrimination and although it is a multi-faceted problem, the talent myth is part of the problem. "In our industry, we recast the talent myth as "the myth of the brilliant asshole", says Jacob Kaplan-Moss. "This is the "10x programmer" who is so good at his job that people have to work with him even though his behavior is toxic. In reality, given the normal distribution, it's likely that these people aren't actually exceptional, but even if you grant that they are, how many developers does a 10x programmer have to drive away before it is a wash?"

Comment Re:The 30 and 40-somethings wrote the code... (Score 1) 553

I remember my father having to get out the suitcase of a portable computer that work had assigned him, set it up on the dining room table, and dial-in to the mainframe to fix broken batch jobs on weekends occasionally.

I had one of these.

http://ptgmedia.pearsoncmg.com...

Still have it, out in the garage next to dried up paint cans and copies of Argosy magazine. And before you ask, no, "dried up paint can" is not a euphemism for my first wife's corpse.

Comment Re:Observations.... (Score 2) 553

Unfortunately for the republicans, Fox has been vetting Hillary for going on 8 years. There is little new dirt they could dish up.

I appreciate how terrified Fox is of Hillary given how strong a candidate she is ( especially when viewed against potential runners like Fiorina/Bush/Christy/Huckabee ), but their constant attacks on Hillary will really only benefit the democrats in the long run.

The irony is delicious.

( note: I hate all candidates/parties. Equally though, and isn't that what we're going for afterall? Equality! )

Comment Re:All aboard the FAIL train (Score 1) 553

Insightful? This is hilarious. The Democrats had practically anointed Hilary, who should be on trial for a felony for her email scandal. Now, even the NY Times is trying to get someone else credible to run for the Dems, as the extent of her corruption has been revealed to be truly enormous.

Nobody who supports Hilary Clinton cares about that.

Comment Re:Who will win? (Score 0) 176

Uber have been shut down in cities in the following countries:

That's the problem today with too much damned govt. rules, regulations and stranglehold on innovation.

Geez, if we had the amounts of rules and regulations a 100 years ago that we have today, we'd certainly NOT likely have all the inventions and businesses we have today.

No, that pollutes too much. No you need a permit for this, and this, and this...and well, we don't permit that at all. Are you diverse enough in your company? Do you have medical? Well, you need a license to even think about building and testing that and certainly not around here. You want to sell what across state lines? You want to drive what across state lines? I'm sorry but we have to tax that. Etc.

Shit....Henry Ford couldn't have done business today as a start up.

Comment Re: Systemd and Gnome3 == no thanks (Score 2) 300

I'm kind of the same way. I log into root when I really need to do something...just a habit from old Slackware days.

But I do try to make damned sure I double check my directory I'm in, as well as the command before I hit enter.

I've blown stuff up before, but mostly as other users...likely that I wasn't being as careful when in as those users as I was when I'm wielding root around.

Slashdot Top Deals

"The following is not for the weak of heart or Fundamentalists." -- Dave Barry

Working...