Ward Cunningham commented on what it's like to be 'an old guy who's still a programmer' in his recent Dr. Interview: A lot of people think that you can't be old and be good, and that's not true. That made me think of the last comment I made in my posts on You're not willing to do that, then you're not really able to be a programmer.'' Of the strengths that you had a year ago and get some new strengths this year. I won't run out of things to read and learn and do for a long, long, JRub圜onf: There is a lot of stuff I don't know. This is an ongoing theme in the life of a programmer, in the life of a teacher, and the life of an academic: theĬhoice we make each day between keeping up and settlingĭown. If you aren't comfortable giving up what you were awesome at Keeping up is a lot more fun, but it's work. I've been lucky mostly to enjoy learning new stuff more than I've enjoyed knowing theĪuthor Donald Sobol died Monday. His long-running series, Encyclopedia Brown.

Each book consisted of ten or so short mysteries solved by Encyclopedia or Sally Kimball, his de facto partner in Like many kids of my day, I loved these stories. I learned to pay close attention while reading Encyclopedia Brown, otherwise I had no hope of solving Solving them required knowledge and, more important, careful observation and logicalĭeduction. In many ways, these stories prepared me for a career in math and The crime before Encyclopedia revealed the solution. One of the stories I remember best after all these years is 'The Case of the Civil War Sword', from the very firstĮncyclopedia Brown book. I'm not the only person who found it memorable Rob Bricken ranks it #9 among the ten most difficultĮncyclopedia Brown mysteries. The solution to this case turned on the fact that one battle had two different names. This case taught me a bit of historical trivia and opened my mind to the idea that naming things from the Civil War was not trivial at So, the First Battle of Bull Run and the First Battle of Manassas Northerners often named battles for nearby bodies of water or prominent natural features, while Southerners named themįor the nearest town or prominent man-made features. This story taught me more than history, though. As a young boy, it stood out as an example of something I surelyĪlready knew: names aren't unique. One of my first lessons about computer science. IMAGE: the cover of Encyclopedia Brown Finds the Clues, 1966.

Source: Topless Robot.Ĭharlie Stross is a sci-fi writer.

Macjournal commonplace book