11 replies to this topic

[DarkLordoftheMonkeys]

The difference between academics and business people in how they view us:

xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language - By Randall Munroe

I thought it was a pretty insightful look at our hard work's amazing ability to leave others totally unimpressed, no matter how awesome the results. Who cares if we can do things with technology that no one else can? We're all just a bunch of nerds to them. :P If anyone has any personal stories to share on this matter, I'd like to hear them.

[WingedPanther]

Hehehe. That's about it. The thing about business, though: it pays better, and you can get a similar reaction from your fellow coders.

[Davide]

(when i seen the thread name, i thought of that comic too)

Let me give you good example, i spend 2-3 months working at a piece of software, that was very hard to do. I publish it and, hurray, it's a bit popular.
I work 2 hours at a tiny piece of crap for personal use, i publish it (why not?), and after 2 weeks i find out that this is more popular than my other program.

This applies to open-source software mostly: nobody gives a **** on how you made it, but how it works.

[DarkLordoftheMonkeys]

Davide said:

(when i seen the thread name, i thought of that comic too)

Let me give you good example, i spend 2-3 months working at a piece of software, that was very hard to do. I publish it and, hurray, it's a bit popular.
I work 2 hours at a tiny piece of crap for personal use, i publish it (why not?), and after 2 weeks i find out that this is more popular than my other program.

This applies to open-source software mostly: nobody gives a **** on how you made it, but how it works.

About open source: If you really want to work on open source projects, you probably shouldn't use .NET languages. .NET generally only works on Windows, and with Unix based operating systems gradually gaining popularity, you will probably be better off learning a language that functions on all platforms, like C/C++.

[WingedPanther]

Mono is opening .NET to Linux as well, though you would probably want to use MonoDevelop for that. Regardless, there are a LOT of open source projects that are Windows only. Annoys those of us on Linux, but so be it.

[Davide]

DarkLordoftheMonkeys said:

About open source: If you really want to work on open source projects, you probably shouldn't use .NET languages. .NET generally only works on Windows, and with Unix based operating systems gradually gaining popularity, you will probably be better off learning a language that functions on all platforms, like C/C++.

Yeah, i know, i don't really make open-source apps, only freeware, but i want to code for multiple platforms. Java helps me with that, and yes, even C++.

[DarkLordoftheMonkeys]

Java is a good language to use to run on any platform because it runs on a VM. I don't particularly like it myself, as you can see from my signature, but I'm not against using it. C and C++ are the most common languages used. C is usually used for community projects while C++ is used by organizations like Mozilla.

[Davide]

DarkLordoftheMonkeys said:

Java is a good language to use to run on any platform because it runs on a VM. I don't particularly like it myself, as you can see from my signature, but I'm not against using it. C and C++ are the most common languages used. C is usually used for community projects while C++ is used by organizations like Mozilla.

I know, it's just that what i said is totally related to your post: Academia will want people to use C++ cause it's good even though it's harder to use, Buisness would want you to get the job done fast and easy, and make the app to work for the Mac and Linux at the same time, so they would choose Java.

Personally, i would code apps in C++ more often, but it would take more time without the .NET framework, and i would get the same result. Users don't care about the programming language, they want their app done.

[DarkLordoftheMonkeys]

.NET programmers really annoy me. They seem to think everything revolves around Windows and it's the only operating system that matters, or even exists for that matter. Who cares if 10% of all microcomputer owners and 50% of all server admins are left out of the deal?

[Davide]

DarkLordoftheMonkeys said:

.NET programmers really annoy me. They seem to think everything revolves around Windows and it's the only operating system that matters, or even exists for that matter. Who cares if 10% of all microcomputer owners and 50% of all server admins are left out of the deal?

I'm not like that, still, if there was an easy way to develop for all platfroms (something as easy as Java), that would be great.

Take Nokia's QT platform for example. I never developed for it though.

[JCoder]

Quote

Academia will want people to use C++ cause it's good even though

I think it is not true anymore. Yes, they still teach C++, because it is one of the most popular general purpose languages. But I can see a big shift towards functional languages like Haskell or Scala. Java is also quite popular for academia projects (especially those commercial).

[blackriderrom]

DarkLordoftheMonkeys said:

.NET programmers really annoy me. They seem to think everything revolves around Windows and it's the only operating system that matters, or even exists for that matter. Who cares if 10% of all microcomputer owners and 50% of all server admins are left out of the deal?

In an ideal world, everyone would be up-to-date with a single, valid operating system that would constantly be worked on by all programmers that ever wanted to create/improve an OS; no one would be left out and there would be no incompatibilities. If someone completely rewrote a new and improved version, he would do so that all programs from other versions would be compatible. Academicians would be providing for the coders.

In our world, 10% of people are up-to-date with a few different operating systems which have to be individually catered for, and compatibility is a problem between even versions of the same OS. Business is providing for the coders.