Why do programmers build a cubicle of "reality" where they operate English syntax semantics of "data type" declarations, memory allocation, and all of this stuff through compiled, linked, and relocated executable formats, resources, extensions, and drivers, when this is all fake?
The second you turn your computer on until the second it goes off there is absolutely nothing happening except voltages making you think the abstraction is real. The voltages are abstracted by bloated nonsense known as HLLs.
When you declare an "int", why aren't you worrying more about the integral combination of voltages entering the IC from the other component, and the electronic pathways, resistors, transistors, and other electronic components present?
You may "think" you're programming, but you're abstracted from the truth.
How much you wanna bet that if these abstractions were removed, virtually 99% of programmers would be incapable of writing machine instructions, or microfabricating electronic components on semiconductor wafers.
Write machine instructions? Ever since the creation of the first language (assembly) it has been abstraction. Sheldon wants to rant about abstraction, lets see him write in binary like the first programmers had to do before Assembly was developed.
The brain "thinks" with transistors, electronic pathways carrying bit voltages based on two's complement, and uses a memory controller, and address decoding units to find out where thoughts go?
The brain "thinks" with transistors, electronic pathways carrying bit voltages based on two's complement, and uses a memory controller, and address decoding units to find out where thoughts go?
it uses changes in static to fire proteins down nerves, this manipulates connections to other nerves, simlar
I tried to do straight electronics and it is difficult....but programming isn't a walk in the park either our work may not be concrete but it does amount to something
Pff, sheldon is such a fuggin n00b. Machine code and printing circuits? Bah. real programmers set the constants at the beginning of the universe such that the universe evolves to having a hard drive with the software to be programed already on it.
Wait I'm confused. Is he arguing against abstraction in general, or just its use in computer science, because it would be hard to imagine a day without abstraction.
Abstraction is what lets us drive our car without worrying about how it works. Understanding how combustion works, how the properties of hydraulics comes into play as you turn, or step on the breaks. Why your speedometer stopped working correctly when you changed your tires, calculating the probability that that speed trap will mail you a ticket, (or if you're in DC, that you'll get a second notice two weeks later that says you ignored the first one they never sent.) It's all unnecessary. Do you really need to know Calculus, Physics, Mechanical Engineering, Chemistry, and Law to react before running over that dog you've been heading towards while reading this paragraph?
Are you analyzing every letter (possibly ever pixel) in this post, contemplating it's origins. Considering the etymology of ever word, and typography of this entire rant as you're reading it?
Most importantly, abstraction lets us make connections and realizations by comparing new experiences with past knowledge. For example, if I strip away the actual subject of the OP's post, and examine the language used, along with its reactions, I can see commonalities with previous topics and posts I've read. Ultimately, I can group these people*, set them apart, and define them with a perspicuous label: Troll.