@James Its amazing that Fallout 3 and 4 used post-apocalyptic cities like DC and Boston. They could have just used present day Cleveland and Detroit and saved the effort of making their own maps.
@sphennings Yeah, thats when I lived there. I actually didn't see Downtown after the dig for years, until like 2010 or something when I visited. I left town in 2000 to go to college and basically never went back.
Someone would have to pay me in excess of $150K/year to get me to commute to work by car. And I'll charge an extra $50K/year for every hour of my commute. I hate hate hate driving to work.
@Mithrandir24601 That particular hyperbole was in response to a comment so arrogant and presumptuous, it required a sharp response. And it's that I don't think that other people couldn't construct such a universe, just that most people are casually, as opposed to rigorously, creative, and wouldn't put in the time. I'm not even close to being able to implement. This is at least 3 to 5 years away, and one of many "world" designs
@Mithrandir24601 As to having to explain the structure of the universe I'm building, I'm not sure why I should have to reveal that. I was just looking for some simple information on a subject that has been covered on television science shows, hoping someone with relevant knowledge could give a quick, high-level answer
It should be sufficient that it's for a world building project.
@Green I was moving across the country for work. I had folks I could stay with while I looked for a place closer to work. I was doing Lowell to Watertown on public transit every day until I found a place in Allston. I wouldn't recommend that to anyone.
@James I think there's a TEXT function.
I just did quick search though and actively try to avoid excel whenever possible.
@dot_Sp0T Yeah and no... It's basically making sure that some one somewhere says that you've put in the minimum amount of effort so you hopefully know what you're talking about for the purpose of finding a job.
@AndyD273 but that's the point, you don't learn to know. You learn to pass an exam and then you forget, because you don't care about most of it. The small part you care you will have to relearn eventually because you just did not have time to truly understand it
The real problem is that it became some kind of standard, and now everyone thinks you have to have one, and so everyone has one, and it's hard to stand out in the field
I think trade schools might come back into fashion once the bubble bursts.
@dot_Sp0T Like a specialized college. You don't go for a "well rounded education", you go to become a specialist. It generally currently applies to people with Trades, like plumbers, electricians, welders, mechanics, etc, and you work toward becoming a master.
I can see it working for other things like programmers too though
I mean programming trade schools, where that is the main and only focus
@dot_Sp0T Yeah, but not where I live. Why should I have to pay several hundred dollars and spend several hours a week to take a required language class when it has nothing to do with my degree, and that I'm just going to forget after passing the final anyway.
@AndyD273 Those non work essential skills are worth learning. Though I will admit that it's hard to put a dollar amount on them, and if you are viewing going to school as an path to a better job they won't directly help towards that goal.
@AndyD273 Of the classes I took in college I have benefited little from those focusing on computer science once I got a job. I benefited much more from the classes I took in communication and writing.
@sphennings but now you're agreeing with my original notion of the whole degree system being a farce more than of any real use; having to learn stuff that you don't need overshadowing the things that you choose to learn and can make use of later
@AndyD273 I really really wish that I could have skipped the stupid courses I had to take for the first two years of my bachelors. I'd be much better off if I could have taken 3 years of CS.
@sphennings the issue is the pairing of it with globalization. A degree from say Mumbai and a degree from Indianapolis in the same subject area are comparable on paper but in person the work of these people will show huge differences
@sphennings The stuff I use the most that i learned in school is how to think in logic. So I learned several languages after I graduated, but it's mostly just applying new syntax to the logical structure. I see a problem. I need a for loop, a few data calls... And I can write that in several languages with the same logical structure.
@Green Right. I'm kind of thinking that a concentrated, focused approach will be more common down the road. You'll start off as a journeyman programmer, and after several years of learning you can create a masterwork and become a master programmer.
@sphennings I like that mental model for learning languages.
I'm trying to learn Elixir/Erlang. It's been slow going (mostly because I think I don't have great focus or great study skills.) It makes it hard to get data into my brain.
@Mithrandir24601 Plus you know that the employees a) know their stuff. b) will do it the way you want them to, not the way some professor thought might work this semester.
@Green I've found implementing a solution to a problem that I understand well is the best way for me to pick up a new language. Then I'm just thinking about how the language works.
I've worked with people from India that had a degree in CompSci or related fields while I did only have my apprenticeship to show and I learned that they weren't of much use because they did not trust in their own abilities but rather were indoctrinated by a work-culture where the superior is always right and you don't question or say no ever
Learned about the latter part by the virtue of working with a british expat with indian roots in the end, way too late for it to be applicable knowledge
@Mithrandir24601 interesting, we're mostly thought about the OSI layers and other stuff that is interesting but mostly static knowledge that one has to look up in a book eventually when they need it
The hardest part of learning to program is that you're needing to learn a bunch of different skills simultaneously. How to think programatically, how a computer works, and how to express yourself to a computer. Not to mention the skills of how to compile and debug efficiently.
Once you've learned your first language the second comes much easier. At least that's my experience.
@dot_Sp0T oh sorry, not in terms of specific 'do it this way and learn syntax' but learn the fundamentals of how languages work, then apply the processes of how it works in the best way, then look at syntax
@dot_Sp0T because it was CS, not programming :) you need to be able to have the prerequisite understanding to do things like build compilers, programming languages, or program or academic research or do stuff like Human Computer Interaction
@Mithrandir24601 we might be talking past each other at this point
Well, it's getting a tad out of hand while still interesting; and I really should do something productive..... who's in for another trainworld question..?
@Mithrandir24601 and I was complaining about what I have to learn that does not seem, and likely is not, conducive (that is a nice word, I will use it more often I think) to getting better/more efficient at whatever compsci is supposed to be I guess
@dot_Sp0T Hmm... I think you were complaining at the things which aren't programming and just bloat if you want to program. All this 'bloat' stuff is possibly CompSci
@Mithrandir24601 no, most of the things that are not programming have a point. There is a point in learning new languages because it helps abstract the thinking and learning process, thus improving it. There is even a point in taking basic economy classes. There is no point in learning things like the USB1 to USB3 protocols, or how to configure a cisco router.
@Mithrandir24601 Yeah, first year I had a required english class where I'm pretty sure that the professor was in love with Hemmingway. She went on way too long about the hidden meaning behind Hills Like White Elephants, and that is knowledge that I sadly have not forgotten since graduating, but which is taking up valuable brain space that could be better used for useful things.
@dot_Sp0T "Well, in Hills Like White Elephants, the protagonist is on her way home after getting an abortion, and sees her femininity as a curse, which Hemmingway indicates to us by describing the breast shaped hills as white elephants, which in Indian culture are a 'gift' that you can't get rid of and which diminishes you."
@AndyD273 but don't you see that this is a perfect description for modern gendercist society, where people are reduced to the traits they display while claiming that exactly that is not happening at all?
I mean, imagine when in the future someone is going to take apart the SGR and starts putting meaning in that just the way we put meaning into Hemmingway
Or Melville for what it's worth.... Moby Dick is a metaphor for how white people slaughter fat white things without remorse
I'll remove that stuff, it was a long day of learning and that was too much steam
ok apparently I can't delete message that are somewhat older. If a mod sees this, thanks for removing it. I don't want a chatban, but if you think it appropriate then I concur.
The Factory Floor
The Factory Floor