This is an interesting question because those of us who grew up in an age of valve radios, no TV and wind-up gramophones couldn't possibly have written any lines of code in our early years! I was 28 when I wrote my first line of code - in hexadecimal machine code - without even the benefit of an assembler! A supplementary question could be "What month/year did you write your first line of code?" to which I would reply September 1977 (if I remember correctly). Incidentally, my mention of gramophones reminds me of the 3 standard speeds for records, 33, 45 & 78 rpm and did you know that if you were born in '45 you'd be 33 in '78?

I'm 64 and still working in IT. The thing I really like about IT is that there's always something new to learn. This is also the pain of IT in that you have to keep abreast of developments ;) If you're in IT you must be prepared to learn, whatever your age and at 50 you're still a youngster! Whether you're able to tackle something new is not so much a matter of age as a matter of state of mind. If you feel you're too old, you probably are, but if you're young at heart, you'll be prepared to tackle anything.

JohnOfStony

If you don't use Nulls, the database will be a lot bigger. Moreover, if you have a number field and all numbers are allowed, what option do you have other than using Nulls if you don't have a value for that particular field? The only pain with Nulls is that any program reading the database has to be able to cope with Nulls and if it can't, it's badly written.

What about endorsements generally? I recommended a friend of mine to do a job I knew he had the expertise for and he agreed to do the job - the result was required in 3 weeks time. After 2 weeks he contacted my boss (to whom I'd recommended my friend) to say he couldn't do the job because he hadn't the time. I was in a highly embarrassing position. Since then, I don't recommend anybody, no matter how well I know them, unless I'm approached for a reference. I well remember applying for a job as Software Manager and when the Managing Director phoned me to offer me the job, he told me he'd had another application for a trainee post in the software department by someone who'd given my name as a reference and what could I tell him about this other applicant. I was really put on the spot as the friend of mine who'd applied for the trainee post was a great guy but he did enjoy larking about and as I was going to be his immediate manager, what could I say? I didn't want to block his potential future but I didn't want to land myself in a brand new job with a problem. All I said to my new boss-to-be was "He's capable of very good work". He was taken on and we had a really great working relationship, but it could have been very different!

No. I like to see file extensions. It's far easier to see a file extension and recognise it than to remember what icons mean what. I also find it confusing to see 2 files with the same name in the same folder. The only possible reason I can think of why Microsoft hides file extensions by default is to make their folder content lists look more like Apple's. Can't Microsoft stand up for itself without trying to copy a competitor. Another example of MS copying Apple is its use of the term "Folder" which at one time was "Directory".