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Comment Re:Don't reinvent the Wheel (Score 1) 548

Hard to say. I would almost consider building new wheels to be part of the learning process for a new programmer. And I think there's value in it. Not just in the base problem solving skills that comes with re-inventing the wheel a few times, but in the perspectives that come along with it. If you don't re-invent the wheel at least a couple of times, then you will have no basis for forming a valid opinion on the best way to implement a wheel. Which, granted, may not sound like much, but it makes a difference in so many other areas. Besides, even when you're talking about literal wheels, those get re-invented all the time. If they weren't we would never have gotten innovations like the rubber tire, or the memory foam insert for armored cars. We would still have wooden wagon wheels, which, while useful, aren't especially interesting or versatile. I think, in the long run, the same is true for code. If someone wants to write a big new shopping cart product, based on what they think are the best practices for such an implementation... let them. If someone wants to think out a new way to write a blog, or send an email, that's fine too. If I were bringing young guys onto my team, I would honestly prefer to work with people who had that kind of experience, over people that didn't. Just my 3800 satoshi.

Comment The other thing... (Score 1) 548

The other thing I wish I had known earlier as a programmer is that while open source is nice for developing skillsets, it's also nice to make a few bucks with the things I create. Had I been a little more business minded in my early years as a programmer, I would have been a lot richer, a lot sooner. This also relates back to mentoring. As a young programmer, it's very important to seek out and work with grizzly old programmers who have been where you are, and experienced the things you might be trying to figure out right now. Personally, I didn't even realize I needed mentors until about five years in. I should have looked for them earlier.

Comment Hate to be the one to point this out... (Score 5, Insightful) 267

But they said the exact same thing about Linux distributions in the 90's, after the post Redhat influx of distros. What we learned from that experience, and some of us knew it at the time, was that the more people you have working in their own isolated environments, solving the problems that are important to them... the more innovation you have in the greater Linux space. It's the trickle down effect in open source software, and it's what makes a product or product ecosystem stronger. And we're seeing the same effect in the Bitcoin space. Just look at the proliferation of Scrypt variation, Gravity wells, different variations on proof of work, proof of stake, and others. Like Linux, Bitcoin is more than a bundle of software products, it's an entire ecosystem. To dismiss that, and say that there should only be about Bitcoin seriously misses the way open source innovation works. The rest is all marketing, which is bullshit by definition.

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