Forgotten skills...
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I've been doing this computing lark for quite a long time and still like to get my hands dirty crafting beautifully manicured code. What I don't do, nor do I recall ever having to do, is create a custom sort algorithm. I don't think I could without looking it up; oh, I know what many of them are called and recall, vaguely, the workings but I doubt I could articulate any of them without looking it up first. There are probably many other 'skills' I learnt in the dim and distant past but have now forgotten due to lack of use (like Visual Basic :-)). What did you learn and never get around to using or, in fact, ever need to use?
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures
So far anything math related (aside from the very simple primary school stuff like adding, subtracting etc.). Sure, it keeps coming back to haunt me. I now need it again for my IT study. Knowing math certainly gives us more insight into the world, physics, biology, chemistry, computing... The list goes on and on. But I've never actually needed it myself! I sort lists every day, I look up records in lists and tables, I do all that mathy stuff, but the math was implemented by others. Don't ask me to solve for x or to write/think of an algorithm. I did it all back in school, but can't remember for the life of me...
It's an OO world.
public class SanderRossel : Lazy<Person>
{
public void DoWork()
{
throw new NotSupportedException();
}
} -
I've been doing this computing lark for quite a long time and still like to get my hands dirty crafting beautifully manicured code. What I don't do, nor do I recall ever having to do, is create a custom sort algorithm. I don't think I could without looking it up; oh, I know what many of them are called and recall, vaguely, the workings but I doubt I could articulate any of them without looking it up first. There are probably many other 'skills' I learnt in the dim and distant past but have now forgotten due to lack of use (like Visual Basic :-)). What did you learn and never get around to using or, in fact, ever need to use?
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures
I surprised myself a while ago when I didn't have a calculator handy and had to divide a five-digit number by a three-digit number and didn't remember how to do it with paper and pencil. Note that I saw my first 4-function electronic calculator ever when I was in last year of high school; I never took a single exam when calculators were accepted as a tool. Admittedly, after a little fiddling back and forth, and a lot of head scratching, I did succeed in performing the division by hand. Yet it did scare me. I never noticed that I no more could do division with ease.
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Java? :laugh:
And me.
"The whole idea that carbon dioxide is the main cause of the recent global warming is based on a guess that was proved false by empirical evidence during the 1990s." climate-models-go-cold
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"Z"[^] and I don't think I've knowingly used De Morgan's law[^] this decade. Also - in a non IT context - I've never had to give the hand signals for "I am slowing down" etc. I learnt for my driving test.
Ha Z! What a useless exercise that was!
"The whole idea that carbon dioxide is the main cause of the recent global warming is based on a guess that was proved false by empirical evidence during the 1990s." climate-models-go-cold
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I've been doing this computing lark for quite a long time and still like to get my hands dirty crafting beautifully manicured code. What I don't do, nor do I recall ever having to do, is create a custom sort algorithm. I don't think I could without looking it up; oh, I know what many of them are called and recall, vaguely, the workings but I doubt I could articulate any of them without looking it up first. There are probably many other 'skills' I learnt in the dim and distant past but have now forgotten due to lack of use (like Visual Basic :-)). What did you learn and never get around to using or, in fact, ever need to use?
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures
Calculus; actually, all forms of mathematics above trigonometry, except for matrix algebra which I've used. All of the engineering applications of that math - linear systems and the like. As far as software subjects go, there've been quite a few things I've learned which I haven't used in a long time. Out of that list, however, I can't think of a single thing which I learned and then never used. The closest candidate would probably be assembly language for PIC microcontrollers, which I learned well enough for a two month-long project a few years ago.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
I've been doing this computing lark for quite a long time and still like to get my hands dirty crafting beautifully manicured code. What I don't do, nor do I recall ever having to do, is create a custom sort algorithm. I don't think I could without looking it up; oh, I know what many of them are called and recall, vaguely, the workings but I doubt I could articulate any of them without looking it up first. There are probably many other 'skills' I learnt in the dim and distant past but have now forgotten due to lack of use (like Visual Basic :-)). What did you learn and never get around to using or, in fact, ever need to use?
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures
When I started in the industry, there were only six recognised programming languages (ALGOL, Assembler, Basic, Fortran, COBOL and RPG). I learned all six, but RPG was the only language I never used. Nowadays, I can program in 2934 computer languages. (If you know the basic six, you know the rest.)
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Like you, sorting is something I haven't written any code for for donkeys years - not since I got started in Assembler and had no libraries. Now I use "prepared" code - which has the advantage that I know it works and if there is a problem it's my fault - I used it wrong! :laugh: I don't think I have used much of what I learned in school past "O" level or less (for non-UKians or the young, I passed my first O level when when I was about 14, but 16 was more normal). Almost nothing past the basics of the "formal learning" at Uni has been used for thirty or more years, but the "mind set" of coding that was started then is still very much in force and wouldn't have been learned at all without the "formal learning" that caused it and hasn't been used since. Visual Basic isn't a skill, it's a disease. :laugh:
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952) Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
Agreed. The most important thing you need to learn in school, and the one thing that you're certain to need in any non-burger flipping job, is how to learn. Once you've got that down your degree is just a white collar union card.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
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I've been doing this computing lark for quite a long time and still like to get my hands dirty crafting beautifully manicured code. What I don't do, nor do I recall ever having to do, is create a custom sort algorithm. I don't think I could without looking it up; oh, I know what many of them are called and recall, vaguely, the workings but I doubt I could articulate any of them without looking it up first. There are probably many other 'skills' I learnt in the dim and distant past but have now forgotten due to lack of use (like Visual Basic :-)). What did you learn and never get around to using or, in fact, ever need to use?
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures
Using a keypunch machine to punch the format card that you put into the keypunch machine to get good tab stops for columns 6 and 72 for FORTRAN programs, or for whatever. My problem here is that I can remember how to do it so it's can't count as a 'forgotten skill'. -C
They will never have seen anything like us them there. - M. Spirito
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I use quite a bit, I do hardware more than software. I still think it's odd to be honest. :confused:
The negation of a conjunction is the disjunction of the negations. == brainhurt
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Well, when I was young, we weren't even allowed to use that kind of language in here. Times sure have changed.
Regards, Nish
Check out 7 reasons C++ devs will love the VS 14 CTP by Nish Sivakumar Blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
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I've been doing this computing lark for quite a long time and still like to get my hands dirty crafting beautifully manicured code. What I don't do, nor do I recall ever having to do, is create a custom sort algorithm. I don't think I could without looking it up; oh, I know what many of them are called and recall, vaguely, the workings but I doubt I could articulate any of them without looking it up first. There are probably many other 'skills' I learnt in the dim and distant past but have now forgotten due to lack of use (like Visual Basic :-)). What did you learn and never get around to using or, in fact, ever need to use?
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures
COM I have read the book, been sent on a three day course to London, believed the hype, and fed the line. And so did my managers. I only used it for a year. After that, it just seemed to die a death.
"The whole idea that carbon dioxide is the main cause of the recent global warming is based on a guess that was proved false by empirical evidence during the 1990s." climate-models-go-cold
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I've been doing this computing lark for quite a long time and still like to get my hands dirty crafting beautifully manicured code. What I don't do, nor do I recall ever having to do, is create a custom sort algorithm. I don't think I could without looking it up; oh, I know what many of them are called and recall, vaguely, the workings but I doubt I could articulate any of them without looking it up first. There are probably many other 'skills' I learnt in the dim and distant past but have now forgotten due to lack of use (like Visual Basic :-)). What did you learn and never get around to using or, in fact, ever need to use?
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures
I got bragging rights that nobody can top. I learnt to program an analog computer once. Never could apply that skill again anywhere in the world!
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Eddy Vluggen wrote:
The cat hates water. Not because it is stupid, but because it is a helpful emotion.
There is a difference between acknowledging hatred and carrying it.
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures
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Perhaps it was Schrodinger's pet...
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures
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I've been doing this computing lark for quite a long time and still like to get my hands dirty crafting beautifully manicured code. What I don't do, nor do I recall ever having to do, is create a custom sort algorithm. I don't think I could without looking it up; oh, I know what many of them are called and recall, vaguely, the workings but I doubt I could articulate any of them without looking it up first. There are probably many other 'skills' I learnt in the dim and distant past but have now forgotten due to lack of use (like Visual Basic :-)). What did you learn and never get around to using or, in fact, ever need to use?
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures
mark merrens wrote:
What did you learn and never get around to using or, in fact, ever need to use?
Nothing, I used everything I learned and the "good" jobs always required a little more to make the job challenging instead of boring. However, there are skills I haven't had to use in some time, but I'm sure they'd come back quickly. In fact, there have been some that my arcane knowledge has been a boon. For instance, one company I worked at required a specialized printer to be able to print barcodes using ESC sequences. To everyone else, ESC sequences were total FM (Field Magic is the polite decode of that). So being of the vintage that I used to need to use ESC sequences to print Bold and Italic on my Epson MX-100 14" wide carriage dot-matrix printer, the task was a snap. For years they kept coming back to me to modify the program because no one else at the company had a clue. Other skills languishing are Assembly coding, spooler writing, communications packages, real time controls, the list is extensive.
Psychosis at 10 Film at 11 Those who do not remember the past, are doomed to repeat it. Those who do not remember the past, cannot build upon it.
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I've been doing this computing lark for quite a long time and still like to get my hands dirty crafting beautifully manicured code. What I don't do, nor do I recall ever having to do, is create a custom sort algorithm. I don't think I could without looking it up; oh, I know what many of them are called and recall, vaguely, the workings but I doubt I could articulate any of them without looking it up first. There are probably many other 'skills' I learnt in the dim and distant past but have now forgotten due to lack of use (like Visual Basic :-)). What did you learn and never get around to using or, in fact, ever need to use?
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures
Talking at the dinner table or at the pub. Nowadays you can see a load of people sitting in a circle messing with their phones. They just sit together but nobody talks anymore. I've seen a family of 4 go out for a meal. They are messing with their phones before the meal, during the meal and after the meal. They've actually forgotten the skill of verbal communication.
