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04-18-2012, 04:52 AM
Good post, Redacted. Were you involved in a tech startup?
I find that most readers of Paul Graham's stuff seem to be in that area.
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04-18-2012, 02:20 PM
sure am. it's been a 3-year project that's now finally starting to see some revenue. we work with gaming and finance, doing ecommerce analytics. its what has allowed me to rock the mobile lifestyle.
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04-18-2012, 11:50 PM
Love Paul Graham’s articles. Only downside is, as you alluded to, there’s a limit to what you can apply from his essays and YCombinator if you can’t write code.
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04-18-2012, 11:52 PM
so learn to write code you lazy prick. i did. it will be the most valuable skill you will ever learn and I'll suck a dude's cock if i'm wrong!
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04-19-2012, 02:14 AM
exactly. you learn by knowing how to search for things. 99% of the stuff you'll ever want to do in software has already been done for you, and done right. it's more a matter of knowing how to string together components than building a castle brick-by-brick.
you need to be able to filter through the crap. just google PHP tutorials and read through a few. seriously, this is how it's done.
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04-19-2012, 02:17 AM
Right on, Man - will do. Definitely time to start doing my own code rather than depending on others.
Beyond All Seas
"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling
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04-19-2012, 12:19 PM
Even if you don't intend to code anything big understanding the basics will get you very far. It will be easier for you to spot and hire good programmers and manage freelance developers. You will also find it easier to attract skilled tech cofounders if you understand their craft.
Here are some resources -
http://www.rooshvforum.network/thread-9020.html
"A flower can not remain in bloom for years, but a garden can be cultivated to bloom throughout seasons and years." - xsplat
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04-19-2012, 01:20 PM
Caligula is right. Ultimately, none of the stuff we have in production right now was hand-coded by me. IT's open-source or my pro did it. But, I knew what to look for, what questions to ask, and when he talked shop with me, I understood. My prototype was essential in showing my new engineer what I wanted, with the explanation that it was really rudimentary. He just loved that I came to him with working code and a UI that helped him understand what I needed.
software is just one big series of conditionals. at their core, these amazing machines only think in 1 and 0, so if you can distill your problems down to a series of yesses and nos, you can code it....eventually!
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04-19-2012, 01:25 PM
Quote: (04-19-2012 01:20 PM)redacted Wrote:
software is just one big series of conditionals. at their core, these amazing machines only think in 1 and 0, so if you can distill your problems down to a series of yesses and nos, you can code it....eventually!
This is another reason to learn. It will help you be disciplined when mapping out the logic of whatever you're building.
Non-programmers often come up with a mish-mash of features and things they'd like their app to do. If you understand programming you're more likely to think things through and come up with better, more structured workflows and logic.
"A flower can not remain in bloom for years, but a garden can be cultivated to bloom throughout seasons and years." - xsplat