Is there anybody out there who still wants to learn programming by hand?

[grob@mstdn.social]

@mttaggart hell yeah. Been learning a bit of Rust for quite some time. It's hard/unusual for me and I hardly have time, but I'll continue my baby steps.

[ninceur@corteximplant.com]

@mttaggart Still very much prefer learning by hand here. It's been ages but I did like the "Learn Python the Hard Way" approach. Tying the motor patterns of typing the words felt helpful at the time, even though I feel like swapping between Python and JS regularly has me forgetting either's syntax more often than I'd like...

And it's still on my list to give Rust a proper go once I have the cycles for it.

[pwloftus@pwl.farted.net]

@mttaggart I’m still poking at the keyboard. Eyes are getting a little tired of extremely verbose reviews though.

[stevenqurkel@infosec.exchange]

@mttaggart That's how I've been learning Rust and Go. It's the most effective way for me to wrap my brain around the concepts

[donaldball@triangletoot.party]

@mttaggart @drwho I been learning zig as an antidote to the llm stuff I have to do for work.

[mttaggart@infosec.exchange]

@donaldball @drwho I think I need to get on the Zig train

[catsalad@infosec.exchange]

@mttaggart We program by around here

[donaldball@triangletoot.party]

@mttaggart @drwho I don’t like all of the design choices, but I deeply respect the principled thought that seems to have gone into them.

[cafou@raru.re]

@mttaggart

I do

[tiff@hachyderm.io]

@mttaggart me. Always me

[meadow@lgbtqia.space]

@mttaggart
I do, but I do not currently have the time and energy to dedicate myself to it as I would need to.

When I've gotten enough things off of my plate, I wish to learn. I can't be any worse than Claude.

[sackofbones@kolektiva.social]

@mttaggart You're only a programmer if you program by hand so anyone who wants to be a programmer is the answer to your question

[rokabe@mastodon.social]

@mttaggart Yes.

Using LLMs to write code feels like using Google translate to have a conversation with a tribal elder. Sure, a lot of words are being said, but I don't feel like I've understood much, and quite frankly I'm insulting everyone around me.

[drwho@masto.hackers.town]

@mttaggart @donaldball So... We should move all Zig?

[meltedcheese@c.im]

@mttaggart Learning to program is learning a new way of thinking. I don’t know of any other mind skill that can do it all: Detail orientation. Clarity. Problem solving. Procedures. Functions. Communication. Timing. Simplification. Experimentation. Testing. So much more …but above all, logical thinking. We should teach it in first grade.

You program with your mind, not your hands.

#Software #Programming #Coding #critcalThinking

[mttaggart@infosec.exchange]

@meltedcheese I did.

[mainec@fromm.social]

@meltedcheese @mttaggart Maths is similar, though not the kind of maths we teach in first grade.

Analysing language might be similar, but again, not the way it's generally taught in school...

[meltedcheese@c.im]

@darthnull @mttaggart @hrbrmstr Learning markup languages and configs is not programming. Writing the HTML compiler is programming.

[mttaggart@infosec.exchange]

@meltedcheese @darthnull @hrbrmstr Don't do this

[mainec@fromm.social]

@meltedcheese @mttaggart case in point: as a teenager I was told that good maths skills are a good basis to have when studying CS - it wasn't before several years after graduation - and after meeting several people who had studied maths that I finally understood, why