Guide to Thinking Like a Programmer | Post #1

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28 Apr 2014, 11:22 am

The Difference in Being a 'Geek' and 'Tech Worker'
Many people consider themselves as 'Geeks' not really knowing what a Geek is. A proper pronunciation for those people is Tech Worker. A Tech Worker just plainly does their IT Job. They have no enthusiasm into their job, and do the only requirements to their job.
A Geek is someone who does work in IT and does all their work like a Tech Worker, but they go above and beyond on a situation. Lets give an example.

Quote:

Geek
I am a Geek and I am making a webpage for a business, and they have a list of requirements. They want a registration form, that is basic , nothing too big. So since I have finished everything I am going to add a verification system to the form, that has automated verification codes.
Tech Worker
I am a Tech Worker and I am solving an issue on a down server for my company. It needs to be fixed so I fixed it and I am not to concerned about whether it s going to crash again. So I will just leave it so someone else can fix it.

Knowing More than you need to
Most programmers know more, than what they program in. Which this is pretty essential for almost any programmer. Lets say I am a C Programmer, and I am making an app with 3D graphics, and I want to use python linked with my Objective C source files, I will need to know Python in order to do that. You see the reason? Sometimes in web development you could have to use a programming language you have never heard of!

Resources
Using resources is a great strategy in finding solutions for your program. You will do lots of Google 'ing on situations you run into as well. If you are learning a programming language forums are a good place to find teaching resources.

Last Comment
I just want to ask any beginner programmer if you want to know anything about the programming language you are learning (Not HTML / CSS they are not programming languages). So just leave a comment below.

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This summer of 2014 I will learn over 14 programming languages, because I can. I know I can. No one say I can't because I can.

Last edited by LunarOfficial on 29 Apr 2014, 5:25 am, edited 1 time in total.

Kurgan
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28 Apr 2014, 12:12 pm

A geek is actually a sideshow performer at a carnival or circus, who eats weird stuff. Generally speaking, you shouldn't add anything to a commercial project unless the customer asked for it; this is a waste of time and money, regardless of your devotion to your job. Let's say the customer wants a slideshow tool that downloads pictures from Twitter. If you add functionality for Instagram as well to the tool, the customer pays extra for something he/she didn't ask for.

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LunarOfficial
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28 Apr 2014, 3:36 pm

Well I was just giving a general idea on how 'Geeks' work, and not to sound rude but the Geek I am talking about is from the 21st century.

From Wikipedia
Verb

Quote:

1. Engage in or discuss computer-related tasks obsessively or with great attention to technical detail.

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Goal :

This summer of 2014 I will learn over 14 programming languages, because I can. I know I can. No one say I can't because I can.

Cornflake
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28 Apr 2014, 5:38 pm

I think esr says it better:

The Jargon Lexicon wrote:

geek: n.

A person who has chosen concentration rather than conformity; one who pursues skill (especially technical skill) and imagination, not mainstream social acceptance. Geeks usually have a strong case of neophilia. Most geeks are adept with computers and treat hacker as a term of respect, but not all are hackers themselves — and some who are in fact hackers normally call themselves geeks anyway, because they (quite properly) regard ‘hacker’ as a label that should be bestowed by others rather than self-assumed.

One description accurately if a little breathlessly enumerates “gamers, ravers, science fiction fans, punks, perverts, programmers, nerds, subgenii, and trekkies. These are people who did not go to their high school proms, and many would be offended by the suggestion that they should have even wanted to.”

Originally, a geek was a carnival performer who bit the heads off chickens. (In early 20th-century Scotland a ‘geek’ was an immature coley, a type of fish.) Before about 1990 usage of this term was rather negative. Earlier versions of this lexicon defined a computer geek as one who eats (computer) bugs for a living — an asocial, malodorous, pasty-faced monomaniac with all the personality of a cheese grater. This is often still the way geeks are regarded by non-geeks, but as the mainstream culture becomes more dependent on technology and technical skill mainstream attitudes have tended to shift towards grudging respect. Correspondingly, there are now ‘geek pride’ festivals (the implied reference to ‘gay pride’ is not accidental).

http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/G/geek.html

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LunarOfficial
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28 Apr 2014, 6:13 pm

Thats a pretty good explanation on the first paragraph. But still yet my and some others definition is narrowed down referring to a 'Geek' as only to the Computer and Technology spectrum.

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Goal :

This summer of 2014 I will learn over 14 programming languages, because I can. I know I can. No one say I can't because I can.

drh1138
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29 Apr 2014, 2:55 am

Your writing style is curiously similar to that of MolinaMegaTech.

EDIT: That would be because you are him. *shrug*

Cornflake
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29 Apr 2014, 6:11 am

^ Quite legally, too: he rejoined under a new name and the original account is now closed.

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TallyMan
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29 Apr 2014, 6:21 am

I just told my chickens that I'm a geek... and they ran away.

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Aldedebaran
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03 May 2014, 1:38 am

Tallyman, I love your (1+1/n)^n as n approaches infinity.

wbport
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03 May 2014, 7:27 am

Quote:

A programmer is leaving his house to pick up his dry cleaning. His wife tells him, “While you’re out, do some grocery shopping.” The programmer never returns home.

"Go to the store and buy a loaf of bread. If they have eggs, buy a dozen."
The programmer comes home with a dozen loaves of bread.

A programmer's wife just delivered a baby and the programmer wrapped it in a blanket and picked it up. His wife asked, "Is it a boy or a girl?". The reply was "Yes".

Will that be not, "Not paper and not plastic"?

eric76
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05 May 2014, 9:51 am

LunarOfficial wrote:

A Geek is someone who does work in IT and does all their work like a Tech Worker, but they go above and beyond on a situation.

I would respectfully disagree with that.

First of all, one does not need to be a Tech Worker to be a geek. One just needs to have a very high interest in the technology and fall under at least some of a number of stereotypes. For example, one could work in a flower shop and be a geek.

Some of the stereotypes would likely include being kind of gawky, non-athletic (it's hard to imagine a top athlete who is a geek even if they do work in IT), bit of a loner, ... .

One could easily be a Tech worker who goes far above and beyond what is required without being a geek.

MrOddBall
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06 May 2014, 12:03 am

The word hacker became a negative thing after the media started using it for little punks who broke into computer systems for malicious reasons but you do have to think about the difference between a malicious intruder/attacker and someone who was curious about a system back then. I suppose even the curious was a law breaker as they did indeed break into computer systems without permission.

I know that this site http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/ is preaching that the word hacker is being misused and abused by the media and Government when it's origin started with computer programmers way back in the late 50's and so on until people started breaking into computer systems :/

bleh12345
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06 May 2014, 2:46 am

Yes, I've said this before but I thought hacker=writing code and cracker=breaking into systems

bleh12345
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06 May 2014, 2:47 am

wbport wrote:

Quote:

A programmer is leaving his house to pick up his dry cleaning. His wife tells him, “While you’re out, do some grocery shopping.” The programmer never returns home.

I understood the first two, but didn't understand the third. Please explain. :lol:

wbport
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06 May 2014, 6:19 am

Like the first one it has a yes or no answer. :lol: "not paper and not plastic" would have the opposite answer from "paper or plastic" and the previous not negates it so it is the exact question. Suppose you bring your own bag to the supermarket and can answer "Paper or Plastic?" with No. In this case, "Not paper and not plastic"? would be true, but the previous not negates it, so you have to answer No to negate it again. IOW, the same answer you gave to "Paper or Plastic?" would work for the other version. Boolian logic.

Just like in Algebra 1: 0 - (-3) = 3

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