Thread: Programmers getting lazy?

  1. #1
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    Programmers getting lazy?

    Something on GameDEV caught my eye

    Many atime have I seen people come into this form with questions like "i want to make a game but i dont want to learn to program how do i do it please help me".

    the problem with technology these days is that people who are new expect people to do the work for them. why dont you just tell me what type of game you want, and ill make it for you. the same thing is going on with web design. geocities, tripod, etc: all you have to do is click click click and theres a web page, and a crappy one at that. All over the place I see people taking the short way out.

    A prime example is a fellow student in my high school AP C++ class. i was ragged on forever for making games ('specially by him) in visual basic. so i started in c++ and i actually like what has become of my game making knowledge, only to see him turn around and start using Game Maker. then once i tried to get him to use DirectX, he tries to use CMU graphics library (carnagie melon), and the fact that he cant get it to work is his excuse for not going out for the extra stretch in knowledge to actually learn something that will benefit them.

    in the on-level c++ class, they are paying other people to write their programs. why would you sign up for a class if you dont bother learning the stuff?

    some people, i believe, are in the programming for the glory, for the intellectual elitism they think they attain from calling themselves programmers, when in fact, they know little more, if any more knowledge than those they say they are better than.

    what im trying to say is, people need to get off their lazy american asses and try learning something, doing things for themselves. no more game makers, no more click click click web makers, no more autoback stratchers and hand holding that programmers think they deserve.
    I think at some point this guy is right, I do really detest those
    create-a-game-or-website-with-one-click program's.
    But i think he forgot to take into account the we keep
    programming and an higher and higher level, So at one point
    you indeed end up with a function called setpixel(x,y,color) wich
    would've took a programmer ten years ago about 1 week to
    create. Your thought on this...
    Last edited by Travis Dane; 02-19-2003 at 09:05 AM.

  2. #2
    Mayor of Awesometown Govtcheez's Avatar
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    I don't really see a problem with it - things made by the point-n-click method are easy to distinguish from something coded from the ground up, and usually don't look nearly as good. Plus, maybe that'll get someone interested in doing real programming, so I don't see how that's a bad thing.

  3. #3
    Funniest man in this seat minesweeper's Avatar
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    >>no more game makers, no more click click click web makers<<

    Surely someone had to program the game makers?

    >>intellectual elitism<<

    Wish I was known as this. Geek sounds more familiar.

  4. #4
    5|-|1+|-|34|) ober's Avatar
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    Maybe someone should look into the fact that "back in the day", only people with desire and the tools and experience actually did any programming. Now soooo many more people have access to this stuff and people that are dabbling are making the rest of us, that don't go posting all over the web about it, look bad.

    I don't think it's a decline in the quality, I think it's an influx of people who have no idea what they're getting into, and a lack of posts by people who know what they're doing and don't need the help.

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    ?, Well i thought he was quite right on the part that people
    do less and less about programming, Expecting to write a game
    within a month. Today a hello world requires 5 lines, Ten years
    ago it would require hell-i-dont-know-how-many lines to get
    that done, Bassicly you're a programmer if you can remember
    5 lines, That worry's me...

  6. #6
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    > the intellectual elitism they think they attain from calling themselves programmers

    Said the man railing on people for not being "real" programmers. Am I the only one that thinks that's ironic?

  7. #7
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    > Ten years ago it would require hell-i-dont-know-how-many lines to get that done

    Um... five lines... C hasn't changed that much.

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    Originally posted by minesweeper
    >>no more game makers, no more click click click web makers<<
    Surely someone had to program the game makers?
    Do you expect that wheyre going to make a new game maker
    with that game maker so that other people can use this game
    maker so build another game maker? Oke, That sucked..ehm...
    What i ment is, There's no real progress if everybody keeps
    using program's that aren't specificly designed for that task,
    And on the designing front wheyre getting lazy......Just an opinion...

  9. #9
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    Originally posted by Govtcheez
    > Ten years ago it would require hell-i-dont-know-how-many lines to get that done

    Um... five lines... C hasn't changed that much.
    Oke, Different example, Printing a BMP with a library, Requires
    about 15 lines now, That HAD to cost hell-i-dont-know-how-many lines 10 years ago

  10. #10
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    Still, big deal, though. It's not like they're dragging down the industry - people who use game makers and think they're excellent programmers or something will find themselves grossly outclassed when they actually get into the world. It works itself out.

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    Still, I think the people actually willing to go all the way get's
    smaller and smaller and people like erhm...krak... start showing
    up more and more.

  12. #12
    Funniest man in this seat minesweeper's Avatar
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    Isn't it just the same as anything in modern society? People can't be bothered anymore. Mcdonalds is the most popular restaurant in the world I believe cos it's quick and simple. Supermarkets are packed with microwave meals and the like. They are nowhere near as nice as a home-cooked meal with fresh meat and vegetables but people either can't be bothered with the hassle of cooking or don't have time.

    It's the MTV generation.

  13. #13
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    Originally posted by Travis Dane
    Still, I think the people actually willing to go all the way get's
    smaller and smaller and people like erhm...krak... start showing
    up more and more.
    You think that because programming's more accessible to people, less people will be serious about it? Good logic.

  14. #14
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    Originally posted by Govtcheez
    You think that because programming's more accessible to people, less people will be serious about it? Good logic.
    Erhm, What i was trying to say is...... I think the accesebility
    was quite good a few years ago, And back then we din't had
    so many krak cases? I think people will start to underestimate
    programming because they got so used to using clicky-clicky
    programs...

  15. #15
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    It's unavoidable - the dot com boom made computer jobs glamorous. So, more people with no real interest in programming (and in all fairness to krak, he was really interested in programming, it's his other skills that were lacking) will show up. Like I said, though - it won't matter - if a person tries to sell something he made in klik-and-play (which has been around for a long ass time, btw - game construction kits are far from new) to a company, I think it's safe to say he'll get laughed out of the office. It works itself out; no one's going to lose a job because of it.

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