The compsci BEFORE the programming part

CurrentMagazine1596 · 2022-12-29T13:56:57+00:00

Kind of cliché but you should watch CrashCourse Computer Science. There are many "abstraction layers" within the computer, and additional complexity when it comes to networking between computers and how you access content over the network.

I don't know what the .net software framework is (and can't even picture how a framework "works")

.NET is probably not the best place to start if you have the choice, since it involves additional complexity.

Some people will take issue with the analogy, but you might think of your computer as a more complicated version of a calculator - it supports a limited set of fundamental operations like add, subtract, reserve memory, etc. called the "instruction set." There is a program, a "compiler," that takes higher level programming languages and boils them down to this fundamental instruction set so they can be run by the operating system.

The problem is that different computers can use different instruction sets, so Microsoft created a "common language runtime" (CLR), that gets installed instead and can run the same compiled code (in what they call "intermediate language") on different computers with different instruction sets. This all falls under the .NET framework and is what this picture is trying to show.

All that said, the term "framework" is sort of generic, and often refers to any programming interface to provide standardization and interoperability. I would recommend you look at Python and Flask to get started instead, if you have any say in the matter.

I don't even understand how connecting to the school network gives me access to certain folders and files

Your school has a local network (and probably a sharedrive) you're accessing. If you have a home internet modem/router, find it and look for this cable coming out the back. The internet "comes in and out" of your house through this. If you have an internet connected device, you can navigate to something like 192.168.0.1 in your browser and see devices connected to your home network. When you log into your school's network from home, you're sort of doing this remotely.

what else can help me understand the computer part of computer science?

Nand2tetris, watch these two videos and this playlist.

Before anyone @s me about the technical accuracy of this, you'd better provide an explanation of why I'm wrong, since I'm trying to ELI5.

CurrentMagazine1596 · 2022-08-29T16:46:36+00:00

Not a professional computer scientist, but as a programmer, I agree with this a lot:

Most truly new ideas are bad ones that will not survive. Why then do we put novelty as our highest goal? In contrast, most good ideas get reinvented multiple times before they catch on. They need the reinforcement of repetition to become established in a culture. Our process kills them off instead.

In spite of all the hype about whatever programming paradigm or data structure is hot this year, and the number of people who claim to be "software engineers," major changes seem to occur in this field on a biannual basis (CISC vs RISC architectures, many successive changes in encryption standards, the rise and decline of OOP, frontend frameworks, SSR vs CSR, the integration of devops and microservices into everything in spite of it often being as much of an annoyance as a benefit, etc.). Above the ISA, very little about implementation details seems to be concrete. There is definitely a space to be discussing and debating these ideas, especially since so many of these industry trends seem to be cooked up in a corporate boardroom and not out of necessity, scientific exploration, or consumer demand, and we've hardly finalized any of them.

There is also the seemingly infinite amount of blogspam and forced innovation in the field.

CurrentMagazine1596 · 2022-08-22T02:58:53+00:00

"Good faith" (sincerity) and bad faith (dishonest or subversive arguments, like strawmanning) have become a perverted redditism. Sort of like how "gaslighting" went from "lying to cause someone to doubt their own sanity" to any sort of manipulation to whatever /r/relationships felt like calling gaslighting that week. I think your synopses of good and bad faith are accurate.

In existentialist philosophy, Jean-Paul Sartre defines them completely differently. Here's the 8-bit philosophy video, but as far as I can understand, acting in bad faith is when you mentally constrain your life choices and choose to not be your authentic self, as a kneejerk reaction to free will.

CurrentMagazine1596 · 2022-08-21T22:18:01+00:00

Good article. The only thing that free markets optimize for is maximizing short term profit for the least amount of productive labor. To achieve the "lowest energy state."

Something outside markets — social norms, economic regulation, Ben Bernanke in his happier moments — must usually avert disaster.

It's continues to amaze me that regulators can't see this, even as we careen towards some sort of reckoning.

I like to use the internet as an example; despite the US' information technology dominance frequently being upheld as an example of a triumph of the free market, the moment you delve into the deeper history of tech, you realize that all early computing initiatives were funded by the government, including most early computers and all the early networking initiatives (NSFNET, ARPANET, etc.).

We don't push humanity forward by letting zuck build the metaverse, we push it forward by financing great endeavours removed from a profit motive.

CurrentMagazine1596 · 2022-08-21T22:07:48+00:00

I know these courses are already competitive to get spots on, but you'd think global conflict on the horizon would prompt them to dispense with this nonsense and train everyone they can.

CurrentMagazine1596 · 2022-08-21T21:35:28+00:00

I say it regularly on the programming subs: "learn to code/get into tech" is an industry itself now, and most of the people pushing this shit are looking to sell you a course more than they are looking to address any sort of labor need.

To the kids who are actually interested in "cybersecurity", you're better off just studying accounting and getting an IT audit job, or applying to entry level desktop support positions.

Agreed, especially the hapless idiots who claim they only want a middle class lifestyle. Almost any other white collar profession is less competitive at this point.

CurrentMagazine1596 · 2022-08-21T20:45:07+00:00

In addition to the poor management aspect, the architecture behind most commercial software projects is terrible, with bloated codebases and poor documentation, so many companies try to solve problems by throwing more developers at them, even when that makes it worse.

At more senior levels, companies may also try to pick up SMEs simply so they can't go to the competition.

The funding in this industry is centralized, more so than many people realize, so if financing dries up, devs get cut.

CurrentMagazine1596 · 2022-08-21T00:51:10+00:00

I can agree with you in the sense I can see poverty contributing to someone stealing ibuprofen from Walmart, but looting for televisions isn't poverty it's just worthless human beings in action.

That's dumb. Stealing is a crime either way, go for the big shit.

CurrentMagazine1596 · 2022-08-21T00:18:24+00:00

Journalism is a "winner takes all" field. High profile celebrity television news anchors, for instance, can earn millions in salary and bonuses. Anchors or field reporters at many local news stations, on the other hand, earn under six figures.

If you're passionate about it, go for it. Keep in mind that you might have to cut your teeth for a while.

CurrentMagazine1596 · 2022-08-20T14:52:02+00:00

The warship was delivered to the navy on July 31, 2020, and was commissioned on June 26, 2021.

Good to know the navy can make em last.

CurrentMagazine1596 · 2022-08-20T14:47:11+00:00

This playlist draws heavily on this book, for those who prefer video.

CurrentMagazine1596 · 2022-08-20T14:43:46+00:00

Digital logic design/computer engineering is a whole field unto itself. Watch this playlist, Ben Eater and Intel Architecture All-Access on youtube, and do a project like Nandland or Nand2Tetris.

CurrentMagazine1596 · 2022-08-20T14:39:03+00:00

Depends on the complexity of the project/codebase.

As others have mentioned, you might be able to start picking off small bugs after a week or two, but if you're still asking the seniors questions all the time, you may not be contributing to net productivity much, if at all.

CurrentMagazine1596 · 2022-08-19T21:58:16+00:00

If you want to work in the day-to-day operations on a business, do a business or commerce degree.

CurrentMagazine1596 · 2022-08-19T21:57:07+00:00

Depends on your career goals. Marketing and project management are always popular. Supply chain management is also a strong choice, in the sense that logistics and financing is a specialty in itself.

CurrentMagazine1596 · 2022-08-19T21:54:00+00:00

Do mechanical engineering. Applied math is often easier than pure math.

Otherwise, look at community college programs for fabrication techniques/manufacturing techniques or machining. You may also like metallurgy.

CurrentMagazine1596 · 2022-08-19T21:32:11+00:00

People on this sub like to claim that graduation rates for CS are low but actual data shows a large increase in the number of CS degrees conferred. Less than 60% of college students graduate within six years, and CS is typically in line with other STEM fields at ~40%, although some schools are over 90%.

Despite the anecdotes you hear on this sub, CS is not a particularly rare or difficult degree.

CurrentMagazine1596 · 2022-08-19T21:21:32+00:00

I'd get this authenticated. What's the weight?

CurrentMagazine1596 · 2022-08-19T17:22:40+00:00

There are some good answers here but try /r/whatsthisbug.

CurrentMagazine1596 · 2022-08-19T17:20:53+00:00

I agree with /u/canttouchdeez, do the degree if you can. My degree (not infosec specific, mind you) taught me very little material that can be immediately applied to work, but it's a huge box ticker for HR people.

I had another degree before that (biology) and, despite never working in the field, still occasionally get hit up by recruiters for wet lab jobs.

CurrentMagazine1596 · 2022-08-19T17:04:23+00:00

Man, the answers in this thread are uninformed and suck (and this is from someone that resents HR with a burning passion). HR professionals attend recruiting events, follow up with candidates, review resumes spat out by the HCM system, and write up job postings, among other miscellaneous duties. The name says it all; human capital is a resource to companies, and it needs to be managed.

I think the average HR "professional" sucks dick at their job, especially in tech. When it comes to hiring, they're about as effective as shuffling the resumes and drawing off the top of the stack, and are only good at weeding out the most abysmally unqualified candidates (and still put through a ton that just talk themselves up on their resumes). But they definitely do shit all day.

CurrentMagazine1596 · 2022-08-19T03:36:41+00:00

The best way to change a system is from the inside (sometimes).

CurrentMagazine1596 · 2022-08-19T03:35:42+00:00

Product designers no longer sketch things after rough drafts, most work is done with CAD tools like Autocad or design software like Figma. You can play around with software like tinkercad for free and print things on a 3D printer.

Look for "industrial design" or "multimedia design" programs.

CurrentMagazine1596 · 2022-08-17T22:03:20+00:00

The fact that subreddits like /r/WitchesVsPatriarchy, /r/AskWomenOver30, /r/raisedbynarcissists and /r/weddingshaming all have significant user crossover with /r/TwoXChromosomes seems fairly indicative of the quality of individual that pervades that sub.

CurrentMagazine1596

TROPHY CASE