When Dartmouth College launched the Basic language 50 years ago, it enabled ordinary users to write code. Millions did. But we've gone backwards since then, and most users now seem unable or unwilling to create so much as a simple macro
I agree entirely, especially as modern systems massively ballooning the required knowledge and skill.
However, I do think there could’ve perhaps been a happy medium, where OS’s retained and continued to develop a simple, built in way to program easily and without setup to retain the spirit of what BASIC provided.
I guess I’m imagining a sort’ve evolved version of Hypercard, which seemed to be on the path of providing something like that.
The beauty of HyperCard is that it lets people program without having to learn how to write code — what I call “programming for the rest of us”. HyperCard has made it possible for people to do things they wouldn’t have ever thought of doing in the past without a lot of heavy-duty programming. It’s let a lot of non-programmers, like me, into that loop.
David Lingwood, APDA
There seems to be Decker as a spiritual successor, which is pretty neat.
In January, we began interviewing candidates for the software manager position.
As soon as the guy walked into the room, I knew it was going to be problematic, because he seemed extremely straight-laced and uptight, dressing more like an insurance salesman than a technologist.
I could tell that Steve was losing patience when he started to roll his eyes at the candidate’s responses. Steve began to grill him with some unconventional questions.
“How old were you when you lost your virginity?”, Steve asked
The candidate wasn’t sure if he heard correctly. “What did you say?”
Steve repeated the question, changing it slightly. “Are you a virgin?”. Burrell and I started to laugh, as the candidate became more disconcerted. He didn’t know how to respond.
Steve changed the subject. “How many times have you taken LSD?”
The poor guy was turning varying shades of red, so I tried to change the subject and asked a straight-forward technical question. But when he started to give a long-winded response, Steve got impatient again.
“Gooble, gobble, gobble, gobble”, Steve started making turkey noises. This was too much for Burrell and myself, and we all started cracking up. “Gobble, gobble, gobble”, Steve continued, laughing himself now.
At this point, the candidate stood up. “I guess I’m not the right guy for this job”, he said.
“I guess you’re not”, Steve responded. “I think this interview is over.”
I agree entirely, especially as modern systems massively ballooning the required knowledge and skill.
However, I do think there could’ve perhaps been a happy medium, where OS’s retained and continued to develop a simple, built in way to program easily and without setup to retain the spirit of what BASIC provided.
I guess I’m imagining a sort’ve evolved version of Hypercard, which seemed to be on the path of providing something like that.
There seems to be Decker as a spiritual successor, which is pretty neat.
🤯
Steve Jobs doing a hiring interview in Apple’s early days:
https://folklore.org/Gobble_Gobble_Gobble.html?sort=date