Isn't this kind of a dumb question? To break it down in simpler terms:
Would someone who's gotten a formal education know more about certain topics in a specific domain than someone who hasn't?
Of course, but as several other observant posters've already noted - there are many things you learn in the field that you don't learn in school. The real question, however, is does it matter?
People in a variety of fields practice at different levels, and programmings becoming more of a "prosumer" activity anyway; note the number of "easy to use" frameworks that've come out in the past few years. Plus, any ecosystem has it's ingénues - or a "magician's magician", like in that movie The Prestige. Haha. Some are inegenues, some are practictioners, others highly theoretical, some are shamanistic. There are a number of archetypes that exist within said ecosystem. It really depends on the person and what they make of programmatic ability more than anything else.
It'd be ill to do some visualizations on this data. Too bad it doesn't sound too conclusive. Maybe it doesn't need to be? Just educating people on...y'know, "what maybe could have been going on" during the flash crash. Haha
Google's just against poor-quality software patents. As we should all be. Fortunately I think the USPA is doing a halfway decent job of embracing change. Maybe they're just terribly motivated by the urge to get out from under years of backlog. I even signed up for their Peer2Patent program.
I suppose that Google can't -not- get involved in this arena given it's sheer size - in regards to profits and influence - but whether they live up to their model of "Do No Evil" is another question all together. Not that they're evil, just that I think you can't grow a company past a certain size without becoming a least a -bit- totalitarian. I understand ambition and the passion to innovate but at some point it just seems like these huge company's don't just want part of the pie but the whole thing. Make no mistake, Google and Apple are engaged in an epic holy-war for every facet of your daily attention, so - regardless of what people's opinions are regarding Google and their take on patents - we know they'll play this game.
Actually - just thought of this - what about...patent credits or something? Kinda like how large companies are only allowed to pollute up to a certain "credited" amount. I know they can buy pollution "credits" from other companies that don't use them, but I guess that model wouldn't translate -exactly- because it could potentially punish companies with a high rate of innovation. Or is that the ah-ha here? That a company can realistically only innovate and invent to a certain point, while IP moves grossly exceeding that amount can be thought of as abuses thus incurring credit penalties. Yea...I like where I'm going with this....
I failed a number of classes because I'd stay up till about 4am every night for a few years straight programming random things for fun and fall asleep in school the next day. Only now that I'm trying to do some relatively complex stuff graphically in Flash do I wish I'dve paid more attention in math class.
Haven't yet looked at the link for "learning javascript with object graphs" but it already sounds interesting. Also, I fully concur with your statement about learning other languages too; javascript is kind of it's own animal and it will either be hard to wrap your head around it's idiosyncracies otherwise, or you'll just be -too- used to them when you finally do try to use something else.
An actual compiled, non-dynamic language would be a good thing to tackle next.
-Terribly- curious as to why you believe javascript is the best language to specialize in, though.
I agree with him, except it's more like a social league where everyone plays because they accept any and everyone. I've mentioned it here before, but I think it's plain silly that now - after all the publicity and hype - damn near everyone thinks they can make a startup without actually having the skill to build, much less a reasonable idea. Was reading a post on here previously about a startup that needs a developer to [make an api] for their site so users can customize their product - a magnetic bumper sticker holder thing with changeable messages. Come on dudes, really? An api? You need a printer and a pair of scissors.
Was gonna say that I hope I one day have a startup this guy bashes, but then I saw the date on this post.
While there are a lot of cases in which I'd agree with you, this isn't one of them. While a thing is gonna do what it's gonna do regardless of the name, a lot of time semantics can have concrete implications on how something is largely percieved and, therefore, how it operates or interacts with the world at large.
A project and a startup are two terribly different things.
Yea I always kind of assumed they'd something like that - RAIDed everything, but then again I think that may be the difference between using one of their DBs and running your own atop EBS. EBS hasn't an actual file-system, right? Or does it? I think it's more raw, and I guess more "use at your own risk" apparently. Damn Amazon, not a good look. Also, why aren't dudes sending you apology fruit baskets or refunding money or something?
Yes. In the dull of our non life-threatening hackernews browsing moments, it's easy to say "It needed to be done! I'd do it in a second!"
I, however, don't know if I'd have the fortitude to cut myself open and remove an organ. I mean I'm sure I would if it was life or death but at no point would I be certain about any of it really.
I believe the post hit the nail on the head when it stated that -Apple- made it clear it considers Flash obsolete. Flash's obsoletion is hardly the reality of the situation but Apple has enough clout to actually put a dent in Flash-adoption by merely issuing a press-release.
Also, where's everybody getting this Flash is closed/proprietary business from? Oh yea, that's right, APPLE! iOS is actually no more open nor any less proprietary. The ability to use open tools (javascript, css, html, etc) to make apps for it does not an open system make. I can download the source for the majority of the AS3 virtual machine from Adobe. There's nothing close to that level of transparency w/ Apple.
While I like that the post focuses on actual technical problems faced in the implementation of mobile Flash, I disagree when poster says the majority of the issue isn't politics. It's -all- politics no doubt about it. Apple has a long history of working closely w/ Adobe to help implement their technologies on Apple platforms, yet recently they've been one of the only companies that gives Adobe trouble over the issue of access to browser-based hardware acceleration. The only reason this has changed is because they realize how well suited Flash could be to mobile and now see Adobe as a threat to their closed system. They want you making apps for -their- store that have to pass through -their- screening process (suposedly in the name of quality which is a crock because so many bad apps make the store), all while using their programmatic tools. They want -huge- lock-in.
Besides, in my opinion, Flash will be around for quite some time. Those I can think of off the top of my head who're the closest to modern day renaissance people are high-level Flash developers. May Flash lose the consumer content video war? Perhaps, but seeing as how it's possible to make robots (or other sensor/motor based machines) that are powered by Flash, highly interactive billboards, and hardware accelerated data visualizations/graphics rendering (on the desktop at least), Flash has it's niche all cut out. As far as mobile goes, I think Flash will still play a large role in helping prototype the cutting edge of innovative touch and/or mobile interfaces, not to mention all the embedded devices that now use Flash for display purposes.
Just another example of concepts being minced by the general publics perception. Sort of like how "Web 2.0" means gradients, and every code library is a "Framework" despite no real Inversion of Control. Don't even get me started on "The Cloud"
I seriously thought about that Digital Designer article for months after reading it - his take on the skills an interdisciplinary/digital designer should posesses. A -lot- of insight there, especially the fact that he mentions Tools for Making Tools, Systems that Evolve, and Histories....but most of all....-mooost- of all...Modeling with Fractals, Genetic Algorithms, and Cellular Automata (ftw!)
I went to one of their meetups about this but am just lost/uninspired as to what compelling story can be pulled from this data-set. It's just federal spending amounts broken down by very general categories and organizations which - without any other axes of data attached to them - make it hard to discern any kind of meaningful correlations.
You're also restricted to this and only this data set (and any data you can gather in the course of an interactive visualization's run).
I like the idea of algorithmic logos/identities - concepts that aren't specific logos per se but instead provide a set of guidelines through which one's generated.
Not valid at all, except that I know some people in that situation like to purposely ask jarring questions to see how one will respond to pressure. It may or may not have been condescending.
Would someone who's gotten a formal education know more about certain topics in a specific domain than someone who hasn't?
Of course, but as several other observant posters've already noted - there are many things you learn in the field that you don't learn in school. The real question, however, is does it matter?
People in a variety of fields practice at different levels, and programmings becoming more of a "prosumer" activity anyway; note the number of "easy to use" frameworks that've come out in the past few years. Plus, any ecosystem has it's ingénues - or a "magician's magician", like in that movie The Prestige. Haha. Some are inegenues, some are practictioners, others highly theoretical, some are shamanistic. There are a number of archetypes that exist within said ecosystem. It really depends on the person and what they make of programmatic ability more than anything else.