Comment Yes, studying humanities can be helpful (Score 1) 264
..as part of an engineering degree
No, a degree in English literature will not help you find a job
..as part of an engineering degree
No, a degree in English literature will not help you find a job
Although my main profession is software, I also do circuit design, construction, metalworking, carpentry and most of the other building trades
I find that even though the specifics are different, the fundamental skill is the same..problem solving
Software, circuit design, carpentry or any of the other disciplines seem more similar than different
The steps are the same..clearly identify the problem, look at the tools and materials that are available, then find a solution using what you have to work with
than a $39 Raspberry Pi?
Today, the digital world is young and new
The managers are young, the employees are young, the customers are young
Once upon a time, the railroad was the hot new tech, then radio was, then tv..etc
Someday, software will be as mature, professional and boring as ball-bearing engineering
I suspect that ball-bearing engineers suffer no age discrimination
BTW..I am a 60 year old programmer who is turning away work. I work in the totally non-sexy world of embedded systems and industrial equipment
..Alan Kay's educationally oriented programming language
They said...
Most kids who take math don't learn math
Most kids who take French don't learn French
But, kids who grow up in France, have no problem learning French
We want to create "Mathland" where learning math is natural
Whenever I hear the term "muscle memory" it reminds me of learning to play a musical instrument
That thing looks as baffling and intimidating as a saxophone to a new user
Sure..once you learn it, it might be cool, but how many people have the physical talent and time to learn it
I tried for years to learn piano, practiced a lot, and just never could get it
The articles were filled with very optimistic visions of a VR future that was "coming soon"
I worked for Disney Imagineering R&D at the time, so money was available to buy some stuff and play with it
We bought the "state of the art" system, and hooked it up..it was not super impressive
When we showed it to the President of WDI, he said "don't show this to anybody else, it makes us look bad"
Years, and many millions of dollars later, we managed to create our own VR headmount display and opened "Imagineering VR Lab" at Epcot
It was better, but still nowhere near lived up to the hype
..of software development, and even the best of us aren't very good at it
If there was a foolproof procedure to guarantee bug-free code, and only the lazy or incompetent produced bugs, things would be different
Unfortunately today, a talented, competent developer, using best practices, always produces bugs
..it uses Windows system calls which then call the sound driver
If the damage was caused by software, it's clearly the fault of the driver
VLC is too far up the stack to cause anything abnormal
..text vs "something-else-that-isn't-text"
The problem is complexity
Programs are getting too complex for humans to understand
We need more powerful tools to manage the complexity
And no, I don't mean another java framework
After hearing his horror stories, I wondered if I made the right choice buying WD drives
But, the evidence speaks for itself...100% reliability
It seems like the marketoids are convincing companies to design ever more annoying technology to piss off their customers
In the old world, companies tried to satisfy their customers
In the modern world, it seems like companies want to make customers as angry as possible
Sadism is the new corporate religion
The only possible interpretation of any research whatever in the `social sciences' is: some do, some don't. -- Ernest Rutherford
