Programming is so different today

Taking Sebastian Thurn’s classes on Udacity after 10 years out of university. I realized that the learning environment surrounding programming is very different nowadays. It is much more of a social experience than what it used to be.

The implementation of stack like discussion board eliminated the stigma of asking questions. For one, others clamors to help you in order to gain points, facilitating a mutual helpful environment. As opposed to the snobs that used to scoff at people with lesser understanding in real life classes. The mix of people from all around the world (AND WOMAN!!!) makes the dynamic of social status very different. Students are no longer scrutinized by purely American standards and bad English is no longer equivalent to stupidity.

Asking questions and getting it answered lighting fast, instead of having to dig through books of programming theory and language references for days changed the speed of learning dramatically. I was able to learn, program an AI and run it successfully in Python under two days. No wonder I feel so stupid when discussing with programmers nowadays. It is so much easier to learn.

I hope this continues and finds a business model that is self sustainable. This needs to continue, from the root of my being, I know this.