Geez, sometimes (actually most of the time) I'm happy that I started electronics and embedded programming more than 35 years ago. At that time I would go to the library and bring stacks of books with me home, study them for weeks and actually LEARN something by myself. That were the days of "Databooks", books with component data that you would kill to get enough of (occupying meters after meters of shelf space!)
Today it seems that at least some people just get on the 'net and scratch the surface, copy a few bits here and there, ask for some help and thats it. YOU WILL NOT LEARN ANYTHING from that, other than using google....
Sorry for letting steam out, I hope it is just me and that I have completely misunderstood the world as it is today..... And sorry for being an old fart.... ;)
Sadly, it seems that many of them can't even scratch the surface for themselves - they just want to be given stuff on a plate!
"I hope it is just me and that I have completely misunderstood the world as it is today..."
Sadly, I think not.
:-(
But the important question is: - have you placed your 35 years of work online so todays students have something to copy/paste when they need to hand in their home-made projects?
Per, nope, but I don't mind giving stuff out I have done, but only to some that I think deserves it :D One of my sons are studying "programming" and I do all I can to "manipulate him" (in the kindest way ;)) to get all the basics right (pointers, cpu architecture, concurrent programming etc) and try to convince him to study these "low levels" well. I have _had_ colleages that did not understand anything "below" making a Java class...they did not last long...
In some ways I think it has become "too easy" today. I still laugh when I hear some young guy saying "I build my own computer". No you did not. You took a motherboard (that someone actually DESIGNED) and stuffed a CPU in it (that someone actually DESIGNED), that took a total of 1 hour to "build" for you. The first computer I build (that in fact could be used for something) was made on perf boards with a Z80, 64 Kbyte of DRAM, a 6845 controller, NEC floppy controller. Everything was connected with soldered wires! Wrote the BIOS myself, and had it running CPM (which someone else DESIGNED :D ) Basically it is the same today in many ways, you just start many "layers" above what we did on the 'ol days....
Anyway, glad I'm not the only "old fart" here :)
Z80 - check 6845 - check (cheated and etched an Elector PCB) 64kB DRAM - nope, went 8x6264 giving 64kB SRAM + 8x2764 giving 64kB UV-EPROM with 8kB bank-switched. NEC floppy controller - nope, never got that far Soldered - nope, just huge amounts of wire-wrap, except for the video card. Own BIOS - check Own assembler - check Own disassembler - check
Video signal fed directly to the tube of a BW TV to get better bandwidth.
I don't miss the UV-EPROM days with tubes of chips to erase and reuse. But no need to bring a laptop for visiting a system and replacing the firmware :D
Last weekend I just "built" a new Xeon system. Way shorter time from start to first text on monitor...
Yeah, thats what I'm talking about, those were the days ;) I still remember working in all my vacations from school to afford all the stuff needed for the build. The 5 inch flopppy drive ( I got a used one for something like euro 300, that was a lot of money then :D) And my yellow phosphor monitor I bought in Germany at that time, also 300 euro or more. The DRAM cost me some amount that I have luckily forgotten, it was expensive as hell, I still remember the day I received the 8 chips in the mail, my parents thought I was nuts ;) (uhm, Byte magazine, MC computer Zeitschrift and what not) Ahh, those memories!
Regarding UV-EPROMs and all things related to those long lost days:
They were very good for one thing, and that was teaching people to check their code thoroughly before running to a debugger.
Many was the time, when just starting out, that I would build my code, swapping 8 inch discs from editor to assembler to linker, blow an EPROM, plug it in, power it up and find it didn't work only to find a silly mistake in the source code.
So, I rapidly realised that the best approach was to check my code and check it again and check it again.
Even now, I frequently find it quicker to check the code rather than reaching for the debugger. And when the debugger is running, I at least have a reasonably good idea where to look.
President Barack Obama told the world that everyone should learn how to code.
www.wired.com/.../
-- How to "manipulate my two kids" (in the kindest way) to get all the basics right?
I am really interested with.
CogniToys Leverages Watson's Brain to Befriend, Teach Your Kids
spectrum.ieee.org/.../cognitoys-leverage-watsons-brains-to-teach-your-kids
Thanks IBM, I have no worries now.
I don't necessarily agree with the sweeping style of the comments alluding the damaging effect of Google of a new generation of engineers. I find the Google search engine to be a truly marvelous teaching instrument. Of course it can make some people lazy and incompetent, but when you combine it with studying the data sheet/sample code/books/forums where interesting questions are asked etc., you have a much better chance to 1. learn well, and 2. improve your skills. In my opinion it is a blessing, for all intents and purposes.
The problem isn't Google.
The problem is that: 1) Lots of people doesn't even care to learn how to use Google. 2) Lots of people lock on to the first hit they get and then want to bend that solution to fit their goals. 3) Lots of people doesn't use Google to locate all the additional information they need to properly learn how the code or schematic or whatever they found in that first search actually works. So all they have is black magic. 4) Lots of people don't realize that the net is built by other people. It's real people who creates the information or the systems that collects and presents the information. So all they know about is themselves. And egocentric as they are, they demand help from "the net". And not just a "can you please help me", but "please do my tasks because I can't afford the time to do them yourself". 5) We get to see large amounts of really stupid people, because the bright people don't get stuck with trivial problems. They only post when they have non-trivial problems that can't be solved with 5 minutes on Google. So we see lots of posts from people who would have been sent home from school in old times because they would not have managed to survive in an environment where they would have to spend own time in a library to produce the required information to hand in.
So while Google isn't an issue, we get to see an extremely high percent of stupid posts by exceptionally lazy people on just about every programming forum in existence. And it's the same for other areas where expertise is needed.
Per, you hit the nail spot on! Surely its not "Googles fault". Google only enables the "lazy people" to do something which they "in the old days" had to work much harder to do (most likely they would just have given up realizing that they were not "smart enough" or just did not have the energy). While they (we) were working harder to achive their (our) goals, they would magically also learn a lot of the principles behind whatever problem that was to be solved. Today it is a lot easier to just grab something from the net, and solve your immediate problem without gaining the fundamental knowledge. Also agree on the part of the GIMMIE generation. I think (naa, maybe I hope) sometimes its because of language barrier between those who ask these kind of "questions". Maybe the same kind of people also existed "way back" but you did not come across them as you do in these "global days"...
Well, many schools are funded according to the number of students that are enrolled, so there you have the prime incentive to keep as many as possible regardless of their skill level. So I agree that the root cause it not Google; it must be a combination of social factors (you _must_ try this and be successful) and a certain mentality (I _demand_ help and you _will_ help me) and perhaps other things.
"comments alluding the damaging effect of Google"
Nobody blamed google!
The problem is not google.
This article explains some of the problem:
www.telegraph.co.uk/.../The-Apprentice-2011-Lord-Sugar-why-The-Apprentice-has-a-brand-new-job-to-do.html
“The blokes who invented Google or the fellow who invented Facebook... all great stories, unbelievable. And that is the problem – every kid jumps out of bed on a Monday morning thinking, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ They don’t realise there is a one in a billion chance of it taking off.”
So many people nowadays think it's oh so easy.
Sooner or later, people will learn things from Siri (Apple), Cortana (Microsoft), or Watson (IBM), and build their computers using LEGO style components within several minutes, like Project Ara or Sole Notebook.
All they/we have is not magic, but science; different words, meaning the same thing.