1.Ask HN: Who is hiring? (August 2015)
[Front Row Education | Infrastructure Engineer | San Francisco, CA | Onsite | Full-time | Education Technology]<p>Infrastructure engineer to join fast-growing education startup that changes how over a million young students learn math.<p>- Our mission is important to us, and we want it to be important to you as well: over a million students learn math using Front Row every month. Our early results show students improve twice as much while using Front Row than their peers who aren’t using the program. Your work will positively impact millions of lives.<p>- You’ll be one of the first engineers on the team, which means you’ll have an immense impact on our company, product, and culture; you’ll have a ton of autonomy and responsibility; you’ll have equity to match the weight of this role. If you're looking for an opportunity to both grow and do meaningful work, surrounded and supported by like-minded professionals, this is THE place for you.<p>- While we have done plenty of infrastructure work over the years, we want you to be our main infrastructure engineer. You will work in step with frontend and application developers to delight our users with awesome experiences. You will work closely with the CTO and receive all of the necessary support to help the company progress. We value teamwork above everything else and do not believe in silos. Your everyday choices will directly impact the company for years to come.<p>- Learn Functional Programming and Haskell from people pushing the industry forward. We hire some of the brightest minds in the Haskell world and love teaching it to newcomers. The company has years of experience of bringing new Haskellers up to speed.<p>Full description and application at <a href="http://frontrow.workable.com/jobs/70963" rel="nofollow">http://frontrow.workable.com/jobs/70963</a>
2.Hello Ruby – Almost there
I'm probably in the minority here, but I think that starting with the low level - bits, data representation/interpretation, and logic (which leads to CPU operation) - is the best path to go when starting to learn programming, because it really dispels a lot of the "magic" and mystery behind computers that can confuse beginning programmers when their code doesn't work as they expect.<p>The idea that computers are conceptually very simple and logical in operation, and that any surprising behaviour is really the result of interacting layers of complexity rather than an intrinsic property of the machine, is something that should be firmly kept in mind whenever programming, or even just using, a computer.
3.Programming for four-year-olds – No assembler required
> <i>name five jobs in which you absolutely do not need to be able to read or write. Found five? OK, can you name five in which you do not need to be able to program? What set took you longer to think of?</i><p>of course that's the case now, but that doesn't mean it always will be. And also, the value (to the person, or society) in learning something is not IMO simply a matter of whether it will help you getting a job where you need to do that thing.<p>> <i>Secondly, you cannot program without being able to read and write. (OK, KIBO makes do without, but I'm talking about serious programming here.</i><p>if we're talking about kids, then the requirement for "serious programming" doesn't apply.<p>but in any case, I don't agree. I was responding to your earlier comment where you put reading, writing and arithmetic on the same level and programming should come after that. If you can't program until you can read and write then you can't do arithmetic until you can read and write -- i.e. i think that argument applies equally to maths and programming. Why can't you learn programming at the same time as reading and writing? Why can't it be <i>part of</i> learning those things? Just like reading books is part of them?<p>> <i>we have to be careful not to fall victim to the programmer's bias. Yes, the need for programming skills in the world around us is big and growing rapidly, but it is probably not as big as we as programmers tend to believe, for two psychological reasons that skew our perspective...</i><p>have you heard the argument that "software is eating the world"? Yes there is the tendency for people to see "everything as a nail" but just stating that doesn't provide any actual argument against the notion that software, and the utility in being able to have programmatic control over the software, will be pervasive.
4.The 'No True Programmer' Fallacy
> Me: "I'm learning programming" Programmer: "Good luck with that (sarcasm)"<p>Try to look at this from the programmer's point of view for a moment. Programming is a vast subject, where you're going to be constantly learning for as long as you program. It's impossible to learn programming entirely: we still don't know how to program to get the best results, we're continuously defining the field as we go on. And that's even <i>before</i> you take Computer Science into account!<p>Granted, being a dick is not a good thing, but after a while it's also hard to be enthusiastic about people who tell you they're going to learn programming. Especially if they have no idea yet about how programming is like in the "real world". Most of them are going to - in my experience - run away screaming when they see the reality of programming. And that's even before talking about how programming <i>jobs</i> look like.<p>Personally I try my best not to be sarcastic when talking to beginners, but I do try to warn them that it may be harder than they think.
5.The 'No True Programmer' Fallacy
It's not about being a dick and discouraging people who want to learn programming but they should know in what they are getting into: programming is hard and the learning process is a long road of many years.<p>Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years
<a href="http://norvig.com/21-days.html" rel="nofollow">http://norvig.com/21-days.html</a><p>with that wonderful quote
"Bad programming is easy. Idiots can learn it in 21 days, even if they are dummies."
6.Python is the new BASIC
> If you learn programming with Python, you have to relearn it again to use any other common language, Java, C#, JavaScript etc...<p>You always have to learn some new things which each language. Doesn't really stop Python from being a good beginners language.
7.Python is the new BASIC
Maybe Python has all these qualities, but it is - different -. If you learn programming with Python, you have to relearn it again to use any other common language, Java, C#, JavaScript etc...
8.Python is the new BASIC
<i>>EDIT: When I say that Python is the new BASIC, I mean it as a compliment, to say that Python is in the best position to become a lingua franca for non-programmers to learn programming.</i><p>I think it is much more common for novice non-programmers to look at some HTML/Javascript that they're curious about and then tweak the javascript a little to change the behavior of the webpage. The tweaking may come from copying a stackoverflow.com answer without unerstanding the underlying principles (aka "cargo cult"). However, these humble beginnings act as the gateway to more systematic learning (.e.g read "Java - The Good Parts by D Crockford", etc).<p>Because of Javascript's pervasiveness[1], it is much more likely for a beginner to hack around with others' Javascript and then eventually write their own <i>.js rather than download Python and start writing </i>.py files.<p>Those are my personal observations. Do others see total more beginners downloading Python rather than dipping their toes into Javascript?<p>[1]
google.com search "get started Javascript" ~211 million hits:<p><a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=get+started+with+javascript" rel="nofollow">https://www.google.com/search?q=get+started+with+javascript</a><p>google.com search "get started Python" ~33 million hits:<p><a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=get+started+with+python" rel="nofollow">https://www.google.com/search?q=get+started+with+python</a>