What Book Changed Your Mind?

[Hobbes' Choice]

(Thinking of starting a thread on programming, in the lounge, if there is enough interest. Let me know.)

Know +1.

10 FOR x =1 to Infinity
20 Print "No one gives a f***"
30 Next x

[attofishpi]

(Thinking of starting a thread on programming, in the lounge, if there is enough interest. Let me know.)

Know +1.

10 FOR x =1 to Infinity
20 Print "No one gives a f***"
30 Next x

while(Hobbes == "has a stick up his ass")
print "atto is a legend"
endwhile

[Hobbes' Choice]

Know +1.

10 FOR x =1 to Infinity
20 Print "No one gives a f***"
30 Next x

while(Hobbes == "has a stick up his ass")
print "atto is a legend"
endwhile

QED. You aint no legend

[Dalek Prime]

Programming is a very fun hobby, Hobbes. As someone (can't recall who) once said, 'thinking about computing is the most exciting thing a mind can do', and I tend to agree.

PS. Declarative programming is much more interesting than imperative.

[Hobbes' Choice]

Programming is a very fun hobby, Hobbes. As someone (can't recall who) once said, 'thinking about computing is the most exciting thing a mind can do', and I tend to agree.

PS. Declarative programming is much more interesting than imperative.

I think the guy who said that was Moss:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eUxpCG2n7o

[Dalek Prime]

Programming is a very fun hobby, Hobbes. As someone (can't recall who) once said, 'thinking about computing is the most exciting thing a mind can do', and I tend to agree.

PS. Declarative programming is much more interesting than imperative.

I think the guy who said that was Moss:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eUxpCG2n7o

No, I think it was a real computer scientist who said it...

[PapersOwl]

My mind was changed after reading Chicken Soup for the Soul

I've looked (okay, glanced) into some chicken soup books (there have been -what? - a hundred of the things) and admit they're aptly named. I have wondered why there are so many copies at so many thrift shops. I speculate that readers either use them up fast and toss them, or pass them on to, or buy extra copies as gifts for, people they think should benefit, but who don't actually want them.

How did it change your mind?
And did you then go on to read the chicken soups for ... whatever your occupation, sex, age and family status are?

This book and stories just inspired my, and make me feel like I can do anything But I need to read it more often because lose this faith so quickly

[Skip]

This book and stories just inspired my, and make me feel like I can do anything But I need to read it more often because lose this faith so quickly

That's probably because it's not faith. It's pep-talks. The coach has to come back and yell at you again after every quarter.
Besides, you can't do "anything". You can do some things very well (if you take time to learn the theory and practise the skills), some things fairly well, some things passably, some things ineptly, some things you should maybe try again, and many, many things, you can't do at all, not ever, not even in your wildest dreams and would probably kill yourself attempting.
The trick is to have a good, long, critical look at your own talents, proclivities, capabilities and opportunities and then pick those endeavours at which you have the best chance of succeeding. Then you won't need faith: you'll have confidence.

[Ansiktsburk]

Have you started it yet?
I would be the first combattant! My hate-love relation with computer programming goes back to 1976 when I first got hold of an ABC-80, a Z80 based swedish computer. Being a nerd material, wrote best in all math exams and not able to bench press 130 pounds I kind of supposef this was the thing for me. And all I wanted to do, I did. But programming, as such, never fascinated me. So i got on studying "engineering stuff" being from a poor family, skipping computers as an interest. But computer progamming continued to haunt me, computer programming was always the most fun part of every solution.

So I ended up studying the most advanced computer progamming education in Central scandinavia at the time(a branch of civil engineering), where there were hoards of people, amongst them two guys who still are close friends to me that almost got into orgasms when we after a while got into LISP(end of second year). I just found it - difficult. And just for the hell of it, like. All those lists and recursions.

The same when I now have spent a lot of decades in the computer industry. I DO program, from time to time, but the "senior programmers" wrinkle their noses at what I do, since my code is not at all "compact".

The same as with philosophy really. I prefer talking about philosophy in everyday scandinavian, english or other european languages. I fairly easy learn new languages, but I hate it when things get "advanced". In philosophy, i hate Modal Logics (although i'm above average in decipher them if I have to), I hate the "academic" language in some works and papers. You don't have to use it! Read S und Z, Tractatus, Nozicks ASU or Rawls AToJ. Great stuff - in ordinary language.
And that goes for computers, too. Pascal, Java, C++, you can do everything you want and still make it readable for the non-seniors. Short routines smartcoded for performance, ok, but that's normally just short pieces of code.

But well, this is maybe just because I am the son of blacksmiths, butchers and farmers.

[marjoram_blues]

The trick is to have a good, long, critical look at your own talents, proclivities, capabilities and opportunities and then pick those endeavours at which you have the best chance of succeeding. Then you won't need faith: you'll have confidence.

I think you have probably summed up all the self-help works ever written; those with the twin aims of 'success' and 'confidence' .
Thing is, it is easier to say than do - especailly on your own. A little bit of help from an objective and caring friend or writer/mentor can go a long way. And sometimes, it needs some kind of a daily reminder.

'Success' is interesting to consider. Success in achieving an aim or purpose - fantastic. The question is what you are aiming for in life. Is it to attain wealth, fame, become President of the USA. What exactly? As you say, it is best to assess current (and potential) skills to achieve certain goals. Every step along the success route can bring increased confidence. And it's good to view any set-backs and 'failures' as learning experiences - which you can then share with others.

'Confidence' another thing - you kinda need the Goldilocks effect, doncha ? And I'm not talking about the Trump...

But I reckon all of the above can be found in any half-decent self-helpie. And that includes pop-philosophy...

[Hobbes' Choice]

Have you started it yet?
I would be the first combattant! My hate-love relation with computer programming goes back to 1976 when I first got hold of an ABC-80, a Z80 based swedish computer..

Sorry to be a pedant but the ABC-80 was not available until late 1978.
I know this because I had the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_PET around the same time.
8K RAM with a tape drive and I thought it was the dog bollocks.

Screen Shot 2016-04-02 at 12.45.08.png

[Skip]

[
'Confidence' another thing - you kinda need the Goldilocks effect, doncha ? And I'm not talking about the Trump...

The best source of confidence (or self-esteem) is a mother. Without exception, all the self-confident people I've ever known, male, female and whatever, had mothers who approved of them, even if their fathers didn't. It's not a guarantee, though - sometimes the mothers were bullied, too.
But if you didn't start out with the advantage of an ego-building childhood, you'll have to earn confidence, one tiny success at a time.
I was contrasting it with "faith", because faith often cons people into attempting feats beyond their ability, resulting in yet another failure.

But I reckon all of the above can be found in any half-decent self-helpie. And that includes pop-philosophy...

Sure - if you luck into the one that speaks to you directly. I guess that's why there are so many at the yard sales and thrift stores: everybody's still looking for the one that works for them.

[Ansiktsburk]

Have you started it yet?
I would be the first combattant! My hate-love relation with computer programming goes back to 1976 when I first got hold of an ABC-80, a Z80 based swedish computer..

Sorry to be a pedant but the ABC-80 was not available until late 1978.
I know this because I had the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_PET around the same time.
8K RAM with a tape drive and I thought it was the dog bollocks.

Screen Shot 2016-04-02 at 12.45.08.png

Yeah, you're right. It was 78, even though it might have been earlier. My father got hold of different stuff VERY early, for "long loans", mostly Hi-fi, TV's and stuff like that, ABC-80 was manufactured by Luxor, a Motala-based company that mostly made TV's.
I actually managed to piggy-back "my" ABC-80 from 16 k to 32 k ram. And I felt like "no one wille ever need more memory than this", well... I still remember the sound of the bits when I loaded programs from the casette tape station.

Actually, It's still at my parents house, somewhere up on the attic. I have been thinking about trying to start it up again. But I suppose the old casette tapes have been de-magnetized since then...

[Hobbes' Choice]

Have you started it yet?
I would be the first combattant! My hate-love relation with computer programming goes back to 1976 when I first got hold of an ABC-80, a Z80 based swedish computer..

Sorry to be a pedant but the ABC-80 was not available until late 1978.
I know this because I had the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_PET around the same time.
8K RAM with a tape drive and I thought it was the dog bollocks.

Screen Shot 2016-04-02 at 12.45.08.png

Yeah, you're right. It was 78, even though it might have been earlier. My father got hold of different stuff VERY early, for "long loans", mostly Hi-fi, TV's and stuff like that, ABC-80 was manufactured by Luxor, a Motala-based company that mostly made TV's.
I actually managed to piggy-back "my" ABC-80 from 16 k to 32 k ram. And I felt like "no one wille ever need more memory than this", well... I still remember the sound of the bits when I loaded programs from the casette tape station.

Actually, It's still at my parents house, somewhere up on the attic. I have been thinking about trying to start it up again. But I suppose the old casette tapes have been de-magnetized since then...

It was all a bit clunky then. You could almost retype a BASIC programme in the time it took to LOAD one.
It was great fun, and the simplicity made the entire machine understandable and controllable - pity it could do so little.

[PapersOwl]

This book and stories just inspired my, and make me feel like I can do anything But I need to read it more often because lose this faith so quickly

That's probably because it's not faith. It's pep-talks. The coach has to come back and yell at you again after every quarter.

You got to the point! I really need a reminder and motivation, this book gives me this