Ask Slashdot: Can an Old Programmer Learn New Tricks?

An anonymous reader writes "I have been programming in some fashion, for the last 18 years. I got my first job programming 15 years ago and have advanced my career programming, leading programmers and bringing my technical skill sets into operations and other areas of the business where problems can be solved with logical solutions. I learned to program on the Internet in the 90s.. scouring information where ever I could and reading the code others wrote. I learned to program in a very simple fashion, write a script and work your way to the desired outcome in a straight forward logical way. If I needed to save or reuse code, I created include files with functions. I could program my way through any problem, with limited bugs, but I never learned to use a framework or write modular, DRY code. Flash forward to today, there are hundreds of frameworks and thousands of online tutorials, but I just can't seem to take the tutorials and grasp the concepts and utilize them in a practical manner. Am I just too old and too set in my ways to learn something new? Does anyone have any recommendations for tutorials or books that could help a 'hacker' like me? Also, I originally learned to program in Perl, but moved onto C and eventually PHP and Python."

Comments

It's okay to be tired of programming

[neiras]

Years ago I actually burnt out. I felt like I couldn't learn anymore. I kept sitting down in front of my editor and going through the motions, wondering where the inspiration was, never able to click into the zone, chasing focus, being unproductive.

I took three years away from code. I got married and started a family. I worked at a relative's construction company. At first I had to force myself not to think about tech. Then I found myself actually forgetting about it because I was doing other interesting stuff. Eventually I realized I needed some software to do something, so I sat down to build it and the old joy was back. Everything felt fresh again.

Recommend you take a break and do something completely different - for years if necessary. You only live once. You might come back to software, you might not. Do what's right for you. The programming world will still be here rediscovering old design patterns and handwaving about the latest development process fads if you choose to get back into it.

Re:what you need them for?

[gweihir]

I agree on the framework quality. Also, their primary use is to allow people that cannot program well to get something done (badly). Last time I looked at a Java-Framework, I came to the conclusion that using it is a gross violation of all standards of professional code generation. One effect is that it takes people months before they can do even simple things.

Fortunately, my current project requires speed and efficiency, so no frameworks, but raw C from the ground up. (Libraries like OpenSSL or PCRE are fine.) The project before that I used Python as glue and C as worker. Still no frameworks.

Personal recommendation: Avoid frameworks. They create far more problems than they solve. And they slow everything down.
 

Re:Practical application is the only way

[Applehu Akbar]

Now for the unprogrammable task: try to convince management that you can still code after 40.