Disclaimer: I'm older than average. I can't help feeling nostalgic for the good old days before our thing went mainstream.
Price of success I suppose, but now we have proclamations like "The world belongs to people who code. Those who don't understand will be left behind". Another example in a daily stream of hyperbolic mass media reports, reminding us yet again that 'software is eating the world'.
I have to say I preferred when the whole thing was regarded more as an exciting hobby - mostly by and for those who took the time to study the craft - than a world dominating force. This article may have value, but in those days you knew you were free of the grand statements. Money backs this new world, not code.
>"The world belongs to people who code. Those who don't understand will be left behind".
What a bizarre claim to make. Building houses is a necessary occupation in all societies. Are those of us who are ignorant or simply unwilling to learn the myriad skills needed herein 'being left behind'?
The claim seems to be that some aspects all possible jobs (even building houses) will require at least understanding the premise and possibilities of programming.
There will be more and more jobs that require the basic skills of coding and less and less jobs that require the basic skills of house building. That is what is meant by "left behind". Obviously the best house builders will always have jobs, but the mediocre ones who once were good enough to get basic jobs on most building sites will be in less and less demand.
It's like being an Apple user from the early days when most computer programmers thought having a GUi or user interface standards was for wimps. Now every other person at Starbucks has a Mac or iPhone, and even Linux users claim to care about usability. What happened to my exclusive club?
and the Mathematical Recreations by Robert Kurosaka. Or Chaos Manor (Jerry Pournelle). But to the parent's point, I remember also wanting "world-dominance" even then ;)
Price of success I suppose, but now we have proclamations like "The world belongs to people who code. Those who don't understand will be left behind". Another example in a daily stream of hyperbolic mass media reports, reminding us yet again that 'software is eating the world'.
I have to say I preferred when the whole thing was regarded more as an exciting hobby - mostly by and for those who took the time to study the craft - than a world dominating force. This article may have value, but in those days you knew you were free of the grand statements. Money backs this new world, not code.