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GeneralRe: A high percentage of dead knowledge Pin
kalberts15-Sep-16 14:21
kalberts15-Sep-16 14:21 
GeneralRe: A high percentage of dead knowledge Pin
Kiriander12-Sep-19 20:15
Kiriander12-Sep-19 20:15 
GeneralRe: A high percentage of dead knowledge Pin
Gary Wheeler15-Sep-16 1:39
Gary Wheeler15-Sep-16 1:39 
GeneralRe: A high percentage of dead knowledge Pin
Mike Hankey15-Sep-16 2:59
mveMike Hankey15-Sep-16 2:59 
GeneralRe: A high percentage of dead knowledge Pin
kalberts15-Sep-16 10:46
kalberts15-Sep-16 10:46 
GeneralRe: A high percentage of dead knowledge Pin
Mike Hankey15-Sep-16 11:05
mveMike Hankey15-Sep-16 11:05 
GeneralRe: A high percentage of dead knowledge Pin
loctrice15-Sep-16 3:05
professionalloctrice15-Sep-16 3:05 
GeneralRe: A high percentage of dead knowledge Pin
kalberts15-Sep-16 11:40
kalberts15-Sep-16 11:40 
You are not a grandpa yet, are you?

The other day, in the coofee corner at work, we were talking about how fascinated kids are if you take them into a real darkroom, in pale yellow/green light, where they can see the magic of a picture growing out of that white photo paper.

Or, in springtime you show them how to make a willow pipe.

Or, you bring your physical core dump to work to show those newly educated kids what "core" really is. The one physical core dump I have saved is a prism about half the size of a beer can, and it stores 1152 bits.

Sometimes I am surprised by how little those youngsters know or what goes on behind the scenes. As an oldtimer, I know, because we had to understand it in the old days. Things like how an interrupt handler is written. How paging works. What information is available in a class object (the first C++ compiler I used compiled to K&R C, and we had a great opportunity to see how OO really works). Very often, when code doesn't behave as they expect, once I tell them about the inner workings, they cheer up - and generally, they write better code after that.

You could say that the knowledge we oldtimers carry very often is context. We know where things fit into a whole. We understand why this and that design decision was made. Then we know how to use it in the way it was intended - or we know that it was not a good design decision, and we should not let it steer us in a wrong direction. We know to see what is the emperors new clothes, hype and nothing more, and to recognize truly innovative ideas.

People tease me for being a "squirrel": I have collected stores of "nuts" (that is, papers, articles, old magazines, whatever) in every available storage space, even on the harddisks of my computer. Honestly, I am surprised myself about how frequently I have to dig into those stores because some question came up at work, or I had to help a friend with an old computer, or my neighbour could make use of some information.

Now that you mention "the maze layout of games": When someone at your workplace, while struggling with some unwieldy problem, makes a sigh: 'You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike', and the other fellow says '...a maze of twisting little passages!', isn't that when you go home to dig up that old drawing of the Adventure maze and show it to the others during the coffee break the next day?

Those things are valuable, enriching the day. Don't be afraid of being the one who contributes to it.
GeneralRe: A high percentage of dead knowledge Pin
Nelek16-Sep-16 0:18
protectorNelek16-Sep-16 0:18 
GeneralRe: A high percentage of dead knowledge Pin
Daniel Wilianto15-Sep-16 16:33
Daniel Wilianto15-Sep-16 16:33 
GeneralRe: A high percentage of dead knowledge Pin
maze319-Sep-16 3:22
professionalmaze319-Sep-16 3:22 
GeneralApple. Ergonomics. Yes. Pin
OriginalGriff13-Sep-16 23:36
mveOriginalGriff13-Sep-16 23:36 
GeneralRe: Apple. Ergonomics. Yes. Pin
Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter14-Sep-16 0:45
professionalKornfeld Eliyahu Peter14-Sep-16 0:45 
GeneralRe: Apple. Ergonomics. Yes. Pin
OriginalGriff14-Sep-16 0:56
mveOriginalGriff14-Sep-16 0:56 
GeneralRe: Apple. Ergonomics. Yes. Pin
Clifford Nelson14-Sep-16 4:43
Clifford Nelson14-Sep-16 4:43 
GeneralMust... Stay... Awake... Pin
Mark_Wallace14-Sep-16 5:08
Mark_Wallace14-Sep-16 5:08 
GeneralRe: Must... Stay... Awake... Pin
Clifford Nelson15-Sep-16 6:17
Clifford Nelson15-Sep-16 6:17 
GeneralRe: Must... Stay... Awake... Pin
Mark_Wallace15-Sep-16 6:27
Mark_Wallace15-Sep-16 6:27 
GeneralRe: Apple. Ergonomics. Yes. Pin
RossMW14-Sep-16 9:26
professionalRossMW14-Sep-16 9:26 
GeneralSaw this Dilbert on FB... Pin
Johnny J.13-Sep-16 22:55
professionalJohnny J.13-Sep-16 22:55 
GeneralRe: Saw this Dilbert on FB... Pin
Dan Neely14-Sep-16 3:09
Dan Neely14-Sep-16 3:09 
GeneralI WUV WENOVO! Pin
Mark_Wallace13-Sep-16 22:51
Mark_Wallace13-Sep-16 22:51 
GeneralRe: I WUV WENOVO! Pin
Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter13-Sep-16 23:13
professionalKornfeld Eliyahu Peter13-Sep-16 23:13 
GeneralRe: I WUV WENOVO! Pin
Mark_Wallace13-Sep-16 23:18
Mark_Wallace13-Sep-16 23:18 
GeneralRe: I WUV WENOVO! Pin
den2k8813-Sep-16 23:22
professionalden2k8813-Sep-16 23:22 

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