
Development without Internet Access « The Technician - sant0sk1
http://chr.ishenry.com/2011/06/13/development-without-internet-access/
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blatherard
The site seems to be down. Here's a copy of the text.

<http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=VXVx02Fy>

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junklight
I've been programming since '81 and commercially since '88.

Books, magazines (remember _typing_ in example programs!) , undoubtedly re-
invented many more wheels than I do now, colleagues, CIX (remember that BBS in
the UK?), looking at open source code, I wrote a warren abstract machine
(Prolog interpreter) back in the day and a regular expression engine and for
both of those spent a lot of time in the university library (had long since
left but still lived near it). Just because it wasn't a click away didn't mean
that the information was not there.

But most of my code now still comes out of my head. The times I search for
code are when I know that _someone_ must have solved this problem already.

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ahrens
I think we all do it. And it's for good and bad. We constantly learn new
things and gain a deeper understanding because of it. Our code becomes better.
We can more easily try new technologies. But atthesame time, we commit fewer
things to memory and rely on our search skills to find the code we used last
time. On the whole, I am sure bot coders and companies benefit from this
practice.

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pedalpete
I often wonder these same questions myself?

How many of us feel like we're 'faking it' even though people are using the
results of our work happily?

I often wonder if it is good programmers who think their code is crap, because
they know it can be better but maybe don't know how to make it better.

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joshfinnie
This is a problem for not only people in the field, but people wanting to
enter...

I have always felt that I have been "faking it" when it comes to my skills as
a programmer. Though, through the help of Google I have developed a few
substainal programs. Even so, I have never had the confidence that I would be
able to program as my job and have kept it as a hobby.

Reading this article has made me realize though that maybe I do have the
required skillset to make it, but there will always be this doubt due to the
fact that Google has made it so easy to look up questions I have. Who knows...

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createaccount94
1) download stackoverflow dump. (creative commons ftw)

2) import into local database

3) setup full text search

4) you dont need internet anymore

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wazoox
> _how the F did anyone get any answers to tough questions before the
> Internet?_

My first serious programming attempts were on my MSX computer. And not only
there wasn't any internet access, but I knew no one owning a computer even
with the same CPU (a Z80A). There wasn't any dedicated publication in my
country, either.

I basically was on my own, with two books : Rodney Zack's "Z80" and an MSX
programming technical book, and could discuss programming problems only with a
couple of friends owning entirely different machines (C64, Apple II).

I went as far as writing my own assembler in MSX-BASIC because I couldn't
afford to buy one; then used that to write my own games. I had my share of
tough questions; I remember my frustration with the existing MSX graphic
modes, and I tried to elicit the machine to create new ones, for which I
partially succeeded. That is, I tried to reverse-engineer the hardware by
making it crash repeatedly.

So the answer to the question is : by trying again and again, and thinking
really hard about it.

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groby_b
"You can't get answers to complicated questions"? Seriously? I'll assume the
writer is using hyperbole. Back then, in the days of blinkenlights and
switches, we did just fine answering complicated questions. It just took
longer.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not pining for those days - I'm googling as much as
the next SWE these days. It's simply another tool you use in your work. We'd
be less productive if we would have to transcribe assembly to octal and key it
in via switches, too - that doesn't mean somebody who never did that isn't fit
to be a software engineer.

(Although, as my dad used to say about unnecessary & laborious tasks that a
monkey could do, "It builds character" ;)

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robertpateii
I develop frequently without internet access because it removes a huge
distraction. But my first step was to download to my local drive all the the
documentation for the language and tools I'm using.

But tough questions? Yea, use the internet. It's like that old tech support
cheat sheet comic by xkcd. "Have you been at it more than half an hour? Ask
someone for help. "

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BasDirks
Though my connection is hardly ever down, I like to keep offline versions of
my most used docs on my own drive.

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Pent
I can do simple boilerplate stuff I've done many times over without an
internet connection... but anything more and I can flip flop around with it
for days

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robinduckett
Development without the ability to keep a website up &laquo; The Technical
Failure

