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I haven't done any programming for about 5 years now. I opened stack overflow to get hands dirty again. None of the things make sense to me anymore. People are talking about so many new Async objects and words that are alien to me. I feel useless.
I am very bad with reading books and learning new things and I can only spare about couple hours a week outside of regular work on computers. This is problematic as I cannot simply pick up a book or start writing code. I lack imagination too as in what to write. My ideas are too old.
Have you been there and what made you restore your dignity in your mind? I will definitely try alcohol but was looking if there are alternatives.
"It is easy to decipher extraterrestrial signals after deciphering Javascript and VB6 themselves.", ISanti[ ^]
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dan!sh wrote: I will definitely try alcohol but was looking if there are alternatives.
Drugs?
"In testa che avete, Signor di Ceprano?"
-- Rigoletto
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dan!sh wrote: Have you been there
Yes, on specific topics, for instance 'app development for mobile phones', or 'machine learning', ...
Quote: what made you restore your dignity in your mind
Basically nothing.
"In testa che avete, Signor di Ceprano?"
-- Rigoletto
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You have the seeds of an answer in your question. Write an app to keep track of your alcohol intake. Time and date, beverage type and quantity, raw alcohol equivalent, estimated metabolisation time. Graphs of predicted blood alcohol concentration over time ...
You might even get some insights into the ideal blood alcohol level for optimal coding (or the reverse).
Phil
The opinions expressed in this post are not necessarily those of the author, especially if you find them impolite, inaccurate or inflammatory.
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The Ballmer peak?
xkcd: Ballmer Peak
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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Wow thanks! I hadn't seen that.
Now I need to go to QA to find out how to calculate the amount of whisky required to maintain that peak level.
Phil
The opinions expressed in this post are not necessarily those of the author, especially if you find them impolite, inaccurate or inflammatory.
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I was out for about 13 years and I've worked very hard to get back into it but sadly can't keep up.
I picked a specific topic, embedded and concentrated on it and have become fairly proficient. Sadly I lack communication also and don't learn very well from books, although I'm an avid reader...go figure.
The most expensive tool is a cheap tool. Gareth Branwyn
JaxCoder.com
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Forget programming. Enjoy your managerial role, and get more accomplished in this.
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I am not a manager either. I am mostly working with architecture, consultancy and some other troublehooting.
"It is easy to decipher extraterrestrial signals after deciphering Javascript and VB6 themselves.", ISanti[ ^]
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Then I suggest that you create a YouTube channel where you explain and solve newbie questions, similar to those asked in our QA section. That would attract a lot of traffic.
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A suggestion based on my experience: Until recently I was still supporting mainframe applications written in COBOL and using DB2. Very fast, very powerful, and perfect for the hundreds of thousands of records processed in batch every night. (24/7 on call was stressful, but that's another story.)
I wanted to try other languages just to see what they were about, so I took an old problem from my college days and decided to solve it in "new" ways -- using languages I'd never learned. (example: Python)
I solved the n-queens problem: How many ways can you place n queens on an n by n chessboard such that none are attacking each other? I had to learn basic language structure and controls as well as the development environment and was able to improve my solutions through iterative improvements. First I wrote code to solve a standard 8 x 8 chessboard, then expanded to n by n. I wrote the solution in 3 different languages. Most fun I'd had programming in years.
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I like the idea of the app. I can try it out. Thanks
"It is easy to decipher extraterrestrial signals after deciphering Javascript and VB6 themselves.", ISanti[ ^]
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Welcome to the club.
Pornhub?
>64
Some days the dragon wins. Suck it up.
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theoldfool wrote: Pornhub?
Of course.
"It is easy to decipher extraterrestrial signals after deciphering Javascript and VB6 themselves.", ISanti[ ^]
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What real world computing problem interests you? Pick up something simple and decide what language you want to write it in... and then visit sites like SO.
My 2c
Happiness will never come to those who fail to appreciate what they already have. -Anon
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Don't beat yourself up. The number of languages, frameworks, program types, and acronyms (Machine Learning "ML" or Artificial Intelligence "AI", Programs "Apps") are exploding exponentially every day.
The reply above recommending picking one language and programming in that one, is the best answer. Also, download Visual Studio Community edition and try that. It helps a lot, displaying / correcting syntax mistakes as you go.
Finally, pick one area, to work in. For example, desktop business programs, mobile phone programs, machine learning, website development, and so on.
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The field has grown too much for universal proficiency. I suggest that you look at some subject that interests you, and learn about that.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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dan!sh wrote: None of the things make sense to me anymore.
I know that feeling! I hadn't done anything in C# for about twice that length of time, and when I went back in to write that app from my last article, it felt like I was trying to learn Greek (which I have tried and is way harder by the way!).
Just kept plodding away, picking off each problem statement one at a time.....until it did what I want.
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One author would always write a program to score bowling games in each new language they wanted to learn (with unit tests to verify) A different spin on the n queens problem.
Sudoku solver? Wordle solver?
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Find a project to complete and start chipping away, and start with a template app that has all the new bits baked in.
I wanted to learn Vue, EntityFramework and .NET Core on Linux, so I googled for a day before working out how to get
- How to get Windows Subsystem for Linux working in windows (wasn't too hard!)
- a .NET Core app with EF running on Linux (click, click...and done!)
- Adding Vue to an ASP.NET Core app, and getting it to build and run. That took a couple of days of swearing
- writing something... This is where the fun started
I had an app, it used the tech I wanted to use, but I had no idea how any of it worked so it was a process of googling, cutting and pasting, searching very specific questions for my very specific problems and bit by bit, small problem by small problem, I worked it out.
The trick for me is I had an app that used the tech I want and all I had to do was change small things and add to what was there. I could always run it and see it working, from even before I had written a line of code.
cheers
Chris Maunder
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Try the wonderful world of IoT and embedded. All the old problems are new again! 512kB of RAM is generous. 6mhz isn't unheard of. No OS. And fiddling with wires and sensors to boot.
Seriously though, it actually is a different kind of development, and is far more bare metal than most bizdev and web dev stuff is. You might enjoy it.
Not sure how monetizable it is for most people, but it worked for me.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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If programming is "optional", you need a project / subject you can be passionate about. For the ones I work on, the background research was the most enjoyable (mine currently is 19th century war games). And as long as the app is responsive, don't sweat the internals in terms of what's trending.
And even "fun projects", that have any worth, will run into (many) man-months when you're managing things yourself.
"Before entering on an understanding, I have meditated for a long time, and have foreseen what might happen. It is not genius which reveals to me suddenly, secretly, what I have to say or to do in a circumstance unexpected by other people; it is reflection, it is meditation." - Napoleon I
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dan!sh wrote: what made you restore your dignity in your mind
I accepted that I only worked (as a developer) for the money, so yes I'm a tart. Have not written a functioning program in 3 years!
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity -
RAH
I'm old. I know stuff - JSOP
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Quote: I will definitely try alcohol but was looking if there
 ... I think you mean something else like docker or kubernetes
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I understand how you feel. While I've continued to work as a developer the last several years, I've had to assume responsibility for other people's code as they've retired, left the company, or been laid off. It's reached the point now where I typically work more than half the time on code that isn't mine. Much of it is poorly done, at least from my tight-ass compulsively-neat perspective. This leaves me feeling stupid and frustrated a lot of the time.
I've learned that I occasionally have to work on something else, either code that I wrote or something new I can write. This helps to re-validate my faith in my skills.
My suggestion is to go back to something fun you worked on back when you were actively programming, and give thought to updating it. That gives you a known foundation to start from and you can learn the new stuff piecemeal rather than all at once.
Software Zen: delete this;
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