Comment by elliotec | Hacker News Reader

Comment by elliotec | Hacker News Reader

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I have noticed a general trend upwards in the interest of scientific programming for a few months now, and the community (most specifically Hacker News) has driven my interest in that area as well. The idea of functional programming and thinking in mathematically sound ways really appeals to me, but my lack of math and comp sci background is holding me back from going full-speed learning and getting better at it.

I feel many of us are lost swimming in a sea of opinions and juggling frameworks du jour, development methods, and business strategies, that it keeps us from focusing on improving our skills in areas that matter. This frustrates me and I've been looking for ways to get out of it. There is also this fear of another bubble mixed with trying to keep up with the trends and hipness of the industry, to remain gainfully employed.

I realize I am sort of just reiterating the authors point, so I guess what I'm saying is I agree.

HN tends to gives this perception of rapid change because you're always hearing about hot new tech and how great it is from the various tech evangelists. It's a side effect of their faith/vision in their own tech that you feel like you're missing the train.

However, I've been following HN for 7.5+ years now, and change is hardly as fast as you think. There really is nothing new under the sun, and you see the same core principles (and human needs) being expressed as the underlying technology changes. The core principles of functional programming have been around since the 30s as lambda calculus, and since the 50s with their initial expression as LISP. It's better to learn FP to add a new way of thinking about problems to your toolbox, rather than treating it as a panacea of programming.

If you're feeling lost in the sea, define your lighthouse. HN will most certainly have you paralyzed by the many waves of every new choice if you haven't defined a clear vision for how you want to harness your finite energy.

"I feel many of us are lost swimming in a sea of opinions and juggling frameworks du jour, development methods, and business strategies, that it keeps us from focusing on improving our skills in areas that matter. "

I sympathize with this a lot. It's extremely hard to prioritize learning new things and improving existing skills over just trying to plow through all the things on your plate. However, I keep trying to remind myself that the best way to get more stuff accomplished is to keep "sharpening the saw"[1]. Making time now for improving your skills will pay dividends in the future.

[1] http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?SharpenTheSaw

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