I agree. I am by no means a seasoned programmer, but I do remember first starting out as a novice. It does get discouraging as a noobie when you hear people in forums throwing around the latest tech jargon and some esoteric C library just to show-off how much they know more than you. The more you program (the older you get), however, you begin to learn it is all just posturing. It's the occasional bad apples that perpetuate that "winner-loser" MIT A.I. lab stereotype.
Trolls do serve their purpose though. It teaches you how to preserver despite the negativity.
Yeah, I think that's probably the most common motivation behind the interaction spotlighted in the article.
> Here's a sample interaction between an experienced programmer and a beginner who is just learning programming
I think the interaction happens between programmers of all levels of experience, but it might be most harmful when it's an experienced programmer talking to a beginner.
> It does get discouraging as a noobie when you hear people in forums throwing around the latest tech jargon and some esoteric C library just to show-off how much they know more than you.
If that's really their intent and if you (the noobie) are the one they're talking to, then sure. If I'm a noob walking deep into a HN thread on an esoteric C library, I'm probably not going to be discouraged that people are using jargon, unless I've identified myself as a beginner and the comments are replies to mine.
Trolls do serve their purpose though. It teaches you how to preserver despite the negativity.