I'm reading htdp and am about half-way through it. After I plan on getting into Racket. I've programmed a bit before years ago. A little python, a little c, a little matlab. This time I want to really get into it. I like s-expressions a lot. Many people have suggested reading SICP. It's supposed to make you a "better programmer". What does that actually mean though? Does it mean being able to do more things, or make more things? Are they necessarily the same?
I want to make things, the kind of things that are fun and useful even for people with no knowledge of computer science. GUI stuff, pretty pictures on the screen. Is that bad? Isn't programming to make things and programming as an intellectual exercise different goals? As an intellectual exercise, does computer science even need programming computers. Wouldn't getting really into math or something be even better for that purpose? Within "hacker culture", it seems like there's something contradictory within it.
If there was an ai that could program anything you tell it to and the end result is exactly what you wanted without you having to write a single line of code, would something be lost?
Abelson: I'd like to welcome you to this course on computer science. [Writes COMPUTER SCIENCE on the blackboard.] Actually, that's a terrible way to start. Computer science is a terrible name for this business. First of all, it's not a science. [Crosses out SCIENCE on the blackboard.] It's a... It might be engineering, or it might be art. But we will actually see that computer so-called "science" actually has a lot in common with magic. You will see that in this course. So it is not a science. It is also not really [crosses out COMPUTER] very much about computers. And it is not about computers, in the same sense that physics is not really about particle accelerators, and biology is not really about microscopes and petri-dishes, and it is not about computers in the same sense that geometry is not really about using surveying instruments.
>>2
lmao.
If there was an ai that could program anything you tell it to and the end result is exactly what you wanted without you having to write a single line of code, would something be lost?
Freedom and insurance, unless you wrote that AI and know exactly every possibility of said AI.
If it knows exactly what I wanted, it must be capable of reading my mind, so why do I have to tell it what I want? If it cannot read my mind, I will have to be precise and detailed in my description, so how is it different from a compiler?
In either case, it might make me lose my job but it won't solve the biggest issue with software: people don't want what they want.
>>5
What's the difference between that and people not knowing what they want until you give it to them?
Mod games! https://strevival.com/2020/08/03/super-turbo-mods/
GUI stuff, pretty pictures on the screen.
This is only bad because our software makes itt so painful. There is a section in SICP on making a language for making pictures and a Racket module which allows this to be done without pain, I'd suggest these to you. Common Lisp CEPL seems like the best way to do 3D graphics if you're interested in that, although I haven't used it at all.