Madis
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522Y

…and the blog owner can’t use Let’s Encrypt.

And he thinks TL;DRs are for kids with ADHD. Totally egotistic. I’m sure his whole point can be heavily TL;DR’d.

Skull giver
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[This comment has been deleted by an automated system]

Twitter brain rot is a problem that effects all ages, but then you grow up with it, it’s worst.

@[email protected]
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I think sometimes people just want others to go straight to the point. I don’t want to hear the personal stories of this guy, just rambling about his past and his skills.

Maybe he could say the premise and a conclusion. Then explain why he reached that conclusion. But no, he chose to torture you with personal anecdotes to get to a point he could have summarized in a few words.

And after that he goes directly into a tedious story that does more to make me dislike him than actually build up the point he’s trying to make. I agree with the basic premise of the article, but the endless passive aggressive anecdotes really don’t help.

@[email protected]
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The whole attitude just ruined it for me. He went full “get ready to hear this 2h long story about my times and how awful current generations are. And no, you’re not allowed to go to the bathroom while I talk” grandpa style.

Looks like they haven’t really posted to the site since 2014 (there was a post in 2017, but they were no other posts between then and 2014.) LetsEncrypt wasn’t nearly as prolific back then.

Ask them what https means and why it is important

Ironic

Can be generalized to “nobody understands science and technology anymore”. I can understand those who went offline and are not looking back.

@[email protected]
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Computers, math, cooking, cleaning, exercise, eating properly.

It’s just another in a long list of things that some grown-ass adults act like is somehow beyond them because that’s easier than trying.

Definitely not unique to any generation.

easier than trying

I’m sure there are plenty of cases of this, but I feel the need to point out that a lot of times there can be mental illness at the root. Which is definitely not easier than trying.

@[email protected]
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12Y

It’s just another in a long list of things that some grown-ass adults act like is somehow beyond them because that’s easier than trying.

That’s the funny part. It’s not really easier. They have to go through life depending on others to do trivial things for them.

Imagine taking your car to a mechanic for low tire pressure rather than learning how to use the pumps at a gas station.

It sure is getting worse, though.

lol it’s really not, at all. every generation tells themselves this and it’s always bullshit.

The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.

  • Attributed to Socrates, ~400 BC

There are objective metrics one can use, rather than basing your opinion on your personal observation window.

There are, sure. And you are going to cherry-pick the ones that allow you to feel a smug and very much unearned sense of superiority.

I’m old and educated, so sorry.

No need to apologize to me, I’m not the one making a fool out of myself.

Educated indeed. Lmao.

Dr Cog
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I remember this article. It’s the reason why I now have a laptop prepared and ready to give my son for his fifth birthday.

Im a 6th semester software engineer student, back in first semester I had classmates that didn’t even know how to zip a folder

He was there to learn, right? Is a first semester student expected to know specific programs without explanation?

Zipping a folder is on of the most basic features of any os. It’s weird that he was so unfamiliar with computers and decided to get into compsci

It’s what happens when everyone says it’s a moneymaker. Most of them transfer out of the program after first year

Zipping a folder has 0 to do with compsci in the first place. Unless it’s a course on compression.

@[email protected]
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removed by mod

I disagree. You should study computer sciences because you’re a geek and want to know more. Knowing how to right-click and select “Create ZIP from directory” is the most basic feature ever. When I started my compsci courses, I had friends who already knew C++ or were compiling their own kernel of this brand new thing called “Linux.”

So you should only major in things you already know?

Any decent compsci program starts out assuming the student knows nothing.

Besides computer science is about math, not actually interacting with a specific os.

Ive worked with a few people that had completed CS degrees that couldnt do basic troubleshooting. One of them still works for my old employer and ive been informed that hes still as bad as the first day they hired him!

was teaching my 3yo mouse and keyboard this week, and he had some difficulty because he is already accustomed to touchscreen. to be fair, toddlers touch everything, its intuitive. regardless, he was pointing and clicking like a pro after afer minutes.
now, when to introduce the cli…?

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No kids myself, but I saw something really interesting at a restaurant the other day. Kid, maybe 3, was watching something on an iPad. When it was time to go, the parents asked “it’s time to go, can you pause your movie?”

Kid taps the screen to bring up the menu, and taps pause. No problem.

I found it really interesting that that UI paradigm is maybe 10-15 years old, and it really isn’t super intuitive, but it’s universal, and this little kid knew how to do it. And it looked like his parents taught him how to do it and encouraged him to do it.

So it isn’t all hopeless, it’s just a matter of parents teaching kids how to use computers. Just like they teach them to eat, brush their teeth, and dress themselves.

I’d wait until the “yank the key from keyboard and eat it” bug is fixed.

Joe
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92Y

3.5!

Start with the sl command, and you can do it now 😁

@[email protected]
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342Y

There seems to be a lack of good basic computer science education unfortunately. Schools and so on never caught up with the speed of technological advance. And back when I was in school, teachers taught things like “How do I use formulas in MS Excel” in computer science. It’s probably still that way, so it’s not neutral at all, instead you’re learning how to use specific software products (often, Microsoft’s). So relying on school education alone may be hopeless. But you can always learn for yourself or from others.

I love how everyone is acting like this is a new thing. People have never been able to use computers.

This article looks like it is seriously a decade or older at this point. The writer goes on about how phones can’t be upgraded or repaired and go obsolete in two years but also buys a macbook pro.

Much of the article is some boomer going on about how they had no computers and they know computers better than people who do have computers. But I bet you this guy doesn’t know how to make laundry detergent but they rely on it all the time. Bet you need manufactur-dad to the fucking rescue for you eh?

I feel like he addresses this quite well in the conclusion. In regards to cars, “this is not a new phenomenon” and admits to his reliance on salesmen and mechanics.

Ultimately, he’s asking that the people who make decisions about how our world is shaped have some knowledge about the things that are going to shape the world. And that essential issue is still unaddressed. Remind me, how many years ago was it that US Congress was asking Google why the bad articles show up when you search their name?

Oh, and our car-centric society in the US largely sucks. That may or may not have anything to do with our general understanding of a motor, but maybe it’s worth considering how much thought has really gone into the implications of these massively affecting technologies.

You’re not likely to educate people on a torque converter just like you’re not likely to educate people on subnet masking.

The article was posted in 2013. It is exactly a decade old. And kids still cant use computers today

They know how to use computers much better than when I was a kid. Ultimately I feel we fixate on every kid knowing computers at some enthusiast level for no reason.

Life is often about being just good enough to get by and we don’t fixate on kids knowing other parts of their lives. Cars are a great example because most people take their car into a tire shop instead of doing it themselves. Most people buy food instead of growing or butchering it themselves.

@[email protected]
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222Y

Ultimately I feel we fixate on every kid knowing computers at some enthusiast level for no reason.

Calling a level of knowledge “enthusiast” is super subjective and I think the author is arguing that bar should be higher. Being able to “use” a computer (IMO and the author’s) should include things like connecting it to a network, reading error messages, following basic instructions, and knowing what basic hardware components do.

Cars are a great example because most people take their car into a tire shop instead of doing it themselves.

Drivers should know how to deal with a flat and check their oil. A lot of people don’t, but they should.

Most people buy food instead of growing or butchering it themselves.

People should know how to cook a decent meal from ingredients. A lot of people don’t, but they should.

All the users that say shit like “make it work” for tools they use every day of their lives are under-educated IMO and should want to learn more about those tools and develop their skills further to make their daily lives easier. I don’t really get why people don’t.

@[email protected]
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102Y

I agree with all of your reasoning here that people should be more knowledgeable about what they use and rely on.

Being able to “use” a computer (IMO and the author’s) should include things like connecting it to a network, reading error messages, following basic instructions, and knowing what basic hardware components do

I guess maybe I come from a perspective on computers that this is ultimately optimistic and not real. Connecting to a network can mean so many things depending on the network involved and in some instances needs you to know your MAC address. While on Android now you can share wifi network credentials with a QR code now.

Yes, I want people to be more knowledgeable but I don’t know how to make sure people are. People come out of more than a decade of education thinking the world is flat and that capitalism breeds innovation. (For clarity I believe that capitalism only breeds innovation in extracting profit and the world is an oblate spheroid.)

@[email protected]
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You’re an oblate spheroid!

heh heh heh

Wow, what a bitter man, he wrote it as spitefully as he could. I wonder what is he so bitter about

Tech support calls that amount to wiping someone’s ass for them. I was helping someone setup their new computer and they managed to install spyware while I was using the restroom. Another time, ransomware got onto to someone’s computer and I instructed them to unplug the computer while I made my way over. They plugged in their only backup of office files into the infected computer and all that data also got encrypted.

I am 28 and i have always thought that the as long as you know how to operate a search engine you can find out what you need. The reason computer people know computers better than you do is because computer people can use a search engine better than you

Skull giver
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32Y

deleted by creator

Chaos
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82Y

I learned how to use computer since i was 5 years old, mostly through video games, then by playing with the Microsoft office, i’m 25 now going computer engineering, and i’m teaching my dad how to use a computer lol

rockerface
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62Y

Exactly this. I am 27 and if there’s anything I’ve learned about the importance of different skills in tech, is that the most important one is finding the information you need. Everything else, you can look up as you need it

Good thing search engines are optimized for advertising instead of utility!

I use searx and DNS level adblocking. Online ads are almost a completely foreign concept for me as 99.9% of the time they just never even load.

I remember when Google used to be perfectly functional as long as you knew the right search tools. Now it thinks it knows what I’m searching for better than I do, and that almost always means pointing me towards something someone paid for lol

Is advanced searching any better? I wouldn’t know now because searx but when I used it before it helped to keep the results focused.

It’s better, but sometimes google will decide you didn’t really mean to type the string inside the quotation marks. Advanced search tools used to be rock solid!

Crazy to think about, but other than through searx i have not used google in about 4 years now. Like i have not loaded google.com in that amount of time

Website: coding2learn

http site only

Lmao

Well, your comment just shows your tech illiteracy. https is useless when you don’t need to deal with sensitive data.

133arc585
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It’s definitely not the case that it’s useless. A MITM can embed malware into the page it returns if you aren’t being served over HTTPS. It’s not just about snooping on sensitive data going one or both ways, it’s about being sure that what you’re receiving is from who you actually think you’re receiving it from.

(Edit to add:) I actually went to look at some of the rest of the site and it confirms what I suspected: not using HTTPS here puts the reader at risk. Because this website provides code snippets and command line snippets that the user is to run, by not presenting it over HTTPS, it becomes susceptible to malicious MITM editing of the content.

For example, this line on the site:

  1. Install Homebrew (ruby -e “$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/Homebrew/homebrew/go/install)”)

Could be intercepted, since it’s not being served HTTPS, and be replaced with utf-8 lookalike characters that really downloads and runs a malicious ruby script! Even easier, perhaps, they could just insert an item into the bulleted list that has the user run a malicious command.

HTTPS is not just for security of personal or private information. It is also for verifiable authenticity and security in contexts like this.

Yeah, it’s also easy enough to set up that a coding website not doing it is almost embarrassing.

133arc585
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22Y

Indeed. See my edit on the parent comment–I noticed that the website provides commands to the user to run, which makes it ripe for MITM attacks: if the user is copying-and-pasting commands to run into their shell, those need to be served over HTTPS.

Dalimey
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62Y

I giggled at that too, especially when combined with the blogger’s quote “Ask them what https means and why it is important and they’ll look at you as if you’re speaking Klingon.”

No one knows how to use computers! Computers dont even know how to use computers! It’s all made up anyways 😅

This is what I tell people when they get frustrated learning how computers work. Its not like math or natural science, it’s all just useful levels of bullshit people made up to make the electric rocks do things. Learn what helps you understand how the rocks work to make it think about the things you care about.

https://www.pcgamer.com/students-dont-know-what-files-and-folders-are-professors-say/

Students don’t know what files and folders are, professors say A whole generation has grown up with powerful search functions, and don’t think about computers the same way.

Apparently this has become a widespread problem in colleges starting in the last decade.

I read the (original?) article on the Verge covering this and my understanding is that it’s not an issue. The files/folders way of thinking is already a metaphor for 0s and 1s scattered around on silicon. Using a “laundry basket with a search robot” isn’t inherently a worse way to store data than a “file system with hierarchy”.

We are just used to one way and the other baffles us because it goes against our way of thinking about 0s and 1s scattered on silicon.

The problem is the laundry basket is not one laundry basket, but a series of subtly different ones that are all poorly implemented leaky abstractions layered on top of files.

Using a “laundry basket with a search robot” IS inherently a worse way to store data than a “file system with hierarchy”.

Nested folders are reliable and predictable.

Tagging is also a good option.

Relying on search that is likely to fail in predictable ways is an awful way to do anything serious. And therein lies the problem… These people have mostly never done serious work with a computer before, that other people rely on. As soon as someone else stands to lose money or fail a class because you can’t find a file, the distinction will come into sharp focus.

Well TBH I’m STILL waiting for a nice tag-based file system where I can just throw all my files in my bin and filter by tags, potentially more than one at a time.

Looks like there are tags available on MacOS and Windows.

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/tag-files-and-folders-mchlp15236/mac

Didn’t find official windows article on this, but plenty of other news outlet reported on this.

As a current computer science college student who was a TA for 2 semesters, can confirm… It’s wild out here

It amazes me the sheer number of developers whose hands I need to hold for even the most basic tasks that my elderly mother even knows how to do. I’ve worked in tech for about 15 years, and the terms “developer” and “tech nerd/enthusiast” used to be synonymous, but over the years, that’s less and less true.

The tech nerds use to be the ones getting CS degrees. Now it seems like it’s just another degree for indecisive majors and most of the kids I see starting out today aren’t passionate about tech - it’s just a degree/paycheck. It’s just baffling to me lol. I work in support, and most folks on my end are big tech nerds still.

I agree, there is a noticeable difference between those who went into tech for $$$ and those who are passionate about it.

This is some “I am very smart and sexy” cringe.

My wife and I were just talking about this the other day.
I’m not in IT but I work as an industrial maintenance electrician, and knowing how computers work solves more problems than people realize!

It’s so frustrating when people are like “Well I don’t need to know how computers work.”

Every aspect of our lives is governed by computers in one way or another. I can’t imagine not being curious to know how they work.

People feel the same way about cars, electricity, food preservation. People’s lives are interdependent on massively specialized technical disciplines and most of them couldn’t care less. I understand that the amount of specialization that goes into some topics means you can’t be an expert on all of these subjects, but some people just could not give a single shit how any of it works, and do not have any understanding of the ways in which it might stop working.

I’ve come to greatly resent any sort of technology or design being dismissed as “magic”, because I’ve met too many people who mean it literally.

Absolutely. I’ll be the first to admit my knowledge of cars is lacking, but that doesn’t mean I’m not interested in learning about it. It’s fine to not know things, but it’s weird to not want to know things.

@[email protected]
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I like to think I have the general gist of how cars work and go together, even if I couldn’t literally get in one and replace some arbitrary part (other than tires/batteries/fluids) without a lot of guides.

Unscrew things in the right order and swear at how everything is completely rusted in place.

There, easy.

Yeah, I feel like I know all the very specific stuff from watching videos about how 4-stroke engines and such work, but the moment I open my actual-for-real hood I’m mostly clueless outside of very basic maintenance.

Yeah, and I’m sure you’ll agree there’s a gap between “my car is a machine that occasionally requires service by someone who knows how” and “my car is a metal horse that should go as long as I put gas in it”. I don’t expect people to be the mechanic, but the second group of people is very much real.

my car is a metal horse that should go as long as I put gas in it

This one is fun because horses require so much more effort and upkeep than cars. Your horse can suck because you made it sad.

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