The things described as the goal of the OP are not Computer Science, they're mostly Software Engineering/Development. Even though there is overlap Computer Science is mostly math, completely irrelevant to setting up static blogs or web servers and somewhat relevant to developing applications. A more accurate title would have been "wanting to learn software development and the relevant bits of computer science which help with that"
Also, software has two things going for older late-starters:
- The mental muscles involved in the act of making software tends to be those that mature the latest, around 25--30. It is also the case for comprehending the concepts, because in the end software is mostly about "human rules for doing things" rather than "how things are in Nature, deal with it however you can".
- The proportion of the total corpus of knowledge probably has the highest online-availability of any technical fields, rather than being completely locked-in to academic intitutions.
Was surprised to not see this mentioned earlier in this HN post. Author seems to be conflating software development with computer science.
Making a bunch of apps isn't going to provide a solid foundation in CS which usu. includes topics such as linear algebra, discrete mathematics, calc (at a minimum differential and integral), data structures, algorithms, etc.
I'm not sure I can relate to the author. My Zettelkasten is not a todo list or project binder or whatever personal life management function they use it for.
Mine is for consolidation of knowledge. For instance, when I study math and I write a pen and paper proof as an exercise I then write a clean note from scratch and link to other theorems or corollary notes I have etc. Similar stuff for computer science or programming. I find out that this process solidifies the work I'd already done and make it less likely to forget.
I also think people get a bit too dogmatic about the ways to use technology to help improve your life. Like, what the heck complex rules about Zettelkasten? I don't know what kind of expectations they have going into this. Do these "influencers" telling you how to use it sell the promise of the ultra-intelligent god from the popular meme? Just open the damn editor and write, you will find what works for you through tinkering and iteration.
Yeah, it seems like they were writing massive volumes of useless ephemeral to-do lists and throwing them away was easy.
Maybe they were doing it wrong and should've been writing down durable knowledge that has lasting value.
I write down guides to do things, explanations of how things work that make sense to me, information that I know will be useful at some time but will be accessed infrequently (e.g. information about people or projects).
A 7,000 book reading list seems useless if your goal is to read all of them. But if it's just a bank of interesting books to pull from when you want something to read on the beach or on a sunny weekend, that doesn't cause me stress at least. I'm adding to the bank, not adding items to do. Like my list of board games to try.
Sure. But right now what do care more about - the nitty gritty details of
1) The way software and projects at DOGE are going
2) “leftist claims that men can become women and vice-versa.”
This is a fundamentally a distracting question. It may give you mental relief (Yahh the other team is dumb, Reality is dumb)
Great! Take the breather.
But then talk about 1.
I get that things are polarized. I get that there is an INTENT behind it. But you’ve got all 3 branches of government. You have the ability to actually make this work.
Why THIS approach. What are the accountability checks and balances?
Are they just creating a new talking point to bounce down the years???
Did people get the required clearances? If not, why were the clearances there? IF yes, How are they making sure this is not going to be FUBARED.
How is responsibility going to be allocated? Are we going to have this over our heads for all generations to come? A new political ball to punt blame?
How do we get accountability for what - even to you - must look like the wrong way to do things.
I was just responding to a dubious assertion with a clear counter-example.
As for DOGE, I live in a different country and not really care to be frank, as an external observer the US is a testbed. We will see what kinds of results going all guns blazing to reduce fraud in government, instead of asking nicely, will produce in due time. As your leftist friend said, you need to break some eggs to make an omelette.
