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What I learned by reading Businessweek's incredible 38,000-word article on code
Business Insider ^ | 06/14/2015 | MATT ROSOFF

Posted on 06/14/2015 1:19:38 PM PDT by Kid Shelleen

Bloomberg Businessweek has devoted an entire issue to a single article: Paul Ford's "What is Code?"

I read the whole thing online this afternoon, and it's remarkable. I could see it being taught in journalism classes years from now, like Gay Talese's "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold" or John Hersey's "Hiroshima." It takes something both very important and hard to understand, and makes it understandable to an audience of smart but nonexpert readers. It does this incredibly well. It mostly feels like fun, not work.

(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events; Technical
KEYWORDS:
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1 posted on 06/14/2015 1:19:38 PM PDT by Kid Shelleen
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To: Kid Shelleen
I looked it over and intend to read the issue more thoroughly later. However I agree that the issue looks fantastic and I do love the cover!


2 posted on 06/14/2015 1:25:26 PM PDT by SES1066 (Quality, Speed or Economical - Any 2 of 3 except in government - 1 at best but never #3!)
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To: Kid Shelleen

ping


3 posted on 06/14/2015 1:27:09 PM PDT by ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton (Go Egypt on 0bama)
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To: SES1066

yep


4 posted on 06/14/2015 1:29:44 PM PDT by mikeus_maximus
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To: Kid Shelleen

I can only speak Fortran IV.


5 posted on 06/14/2015 1:35:56 PM PDT by Repeal The 17th (I was conceived in liberty, how about you?)
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To: Kid Shelleen

Got this far: “There’s C ... used today mostly to build programs that run on devices like printers”

Yeah, right.


6 posted on 06/14/2015 1:36:56 PM PDT by Tzfat
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To: Kid Shelleen
From the article, I got a huge laugh out of the "See Also" sidebar:

Why Apple paid for this 15-year-old teen developer to come to its conference and meet Tim Cook

I'm sure they did not intend for the obvious take many would get from the title........Apple would never procure for their CEO, would they?

7 posted on 06/14/2015 1:40:16 PM PDT by doorgunner69
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To: Kid Shelleen

Does it cover Swift 2?

https://developer.apple.com/swift/


8 posted on 06/14/2015 1:41:21 PM PDT by House Atreides (CRUZ or lose!)
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To: Kid Shelleen

Bflr


9 posted on 06/14/2015 1:42:44 PM PDT by RushIsMyTeddyBear (The White House is now known as "Casa Blanca".)
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To: SES1066

Python was the best choice for a clean cover although a more realistic choice might be some ugly javascript for a nice dynamic GUI cover.


10 posted on 06/14/2015 1:45:23 PM PDT by palmer (Net "neutrality" = Obama turning the internet into FlixNet)
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To: Kid Shelleen; ShadowAce

Ping-worthy Shadow Ace?


11 posted on 06/14/2015 1:47:50 PM PDT by bajabaja (Too ugly to be scanned at the airports.)
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To: Kid Shelleen

coding is cool, when needed. Wrote tic-tac-toe programs in a simplified BASIC in elementary school.
I wrote in HTML back in the last century, then programs like “Dreamweaver” made it un-necessary. Ajax in this century. And now everything is .NET. oh well, keep the pencils (styli) sharp boys (& girls and “yet-to-decides”).

But so much can be done without the need to write code “long hand”. Lots of great, existing software does it for you.

SQL Studio has made re-usable segments copy-and-paste simple. Most other environments have a similar functionality.
We will always need long hand coding, but that is increasingly for a VERY few. Most simply won’t have the need for it.
Or by the time you learn to write in the new code “language”, something else will become all the rage.


12 posted on 06/14/2015 1:52:01 PM PDT by Macoozie (1) Win the Senate 2) Repeal Obamacare 3) Impeach Roberts)
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To: Macoozie

All the coding I know I learned on FreeRepublic.com.


13 posted on 06/14/2015 1:55:08 PM PDT by Delta 21 (Patiently waiting for the jack booted kick at my door.)
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To: Tzfat

Apparently the author did not learn too much!!


14 posted on 06/14/2015 1:58:30 PM PDT by HonkyTonkMan
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To: Kid Shelleen

will read later, maybe.....


15 posted on 06/14/2015 2:01:16 PM PDT by Fungi
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To: Kid Shelleen

What programing language should an engineer/scientist learn today? I stopped at C++ many years ago. I used C a lot after FORTRAN IV.


16 posted on 06/14/2015 2:01:30 PM PDT by Citizen Tom Paine (An old sailor sends)
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To: Repeal The 17th

Same here and I find it much more complete in explanation to some of the stuff my engineers work in now. I’ve written some applications in Fortran then flow charted them and have them translated into C or something else. The kids scoffed at first but seem to now find the Fortran and flow charts leave good documentation.


17 posted on 06/14/2015 2:02:28 PM PDT by Sequoyah101
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To: Kid Shelleen

The first and almost last code I learned was Cobol in 1980 from a professor so bad he couldn’t teach Eskimos to make igloos. And having to fight the Indonesian kids for keypunch machines at 2:00 a.m. left a really bad taste. I didn’t touch a computer of any kind for 15 years.

Now all the code I need to know I get from Free Republic’s HTML Sandbox.


18 posted on 06/14/2015 2:11:20 PM PDT by henkster (Do I really need a sarcasm tag?)
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To: Citizen Tom Paine

Python


19 posted on 06/14/2015 2:12:23 PM PDT by palmer (Net "neutrality" = Obama turning the internet into FlixNet)
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To: henkster

Don’t forget about RPG.


20 posted on 06/14/2015 2:15:22 PM PDT by moovova
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