Ask HN: Remote island can only have 1 PC, 1 book, 1 programming language

2 points·kbrannigan··7 comments

Imagine being dropped on a remote island for 1 year with a solar-powered laptop, zero internet, you can only bring one book, and can choose any one programming language and you may find some e-waste ?

What do you pick, and what do you spend 12 months building ?

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I have lived that exact scenario, mostly. My first year in Afghanistan I was frequently traveling, and mostly had no internet access. It was the year I taught myself to write original software applications in JavaScript on a small netbook. I built out the earliest versions of this once popular diff tool.

Probably any old language. Python? And a book related to games programming as I would want to play the games as an alternative source of entertainment.

Don't think there'd be much point building something under those circumstances, other than being bored.

But what if you were ask to at least 1 commit per day?

You're disconnected so how would anyone know what you did or didn't do?

And if there were expectations on how you spent that time, why would they equip you worse than if you went to Antarctica or Mars?

For programming language I choose C++, as an excuse to bring some 800+ page C++ book. The brick of a book can be used as a bludgeoning weapon when hunting for food & the pages can be torn off to help start fires.

A book on 'How to Build a Raft' and 12 months to build one seems doable. All I need is a little javascript and a few games to play on the laptop to pass the down time and I'd survive.

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