Good luck finding any graphics programmers still using Pascal or Fortran. I'm sure you can find some old hackers, but very few people are learning those languages any more.
As for using assembly language for graphics programming, that's only practical for very small programs now when efficiency or size is paramount. Any graphics programs of moderate size are highly complex. There is little need to spend the time and effort to program in assembly when you can get something working in C++ in a fraction of the time.
It doesn't matter if I've been there or not. I still read. And there are plenty of writers who have visited there recently.
While China has started market reforms, the government is still communist and authoritarian. If they wanted to nationalize the US companies currently working in China, then they could do it in an instant. We would be helpless to stop them. That is a threat. And China becomes more of a threat every day that they consolidate their power while we give them ours.
I think a lot of people in this discussion are missing the point. C++ and Java are just tools for learning and doing computer science. The whole point of a degree program is not to learn how to program, but to learn the theories and ideas of development. Learning to program is a side-effect.
Tools like C++ and Java will age and eventually get replaced. You'll need to learn a new language next year and something else the year after that. The theories and ideas learned in CS courses will last you a lifetime. That is why people without degrees have serious gaps in their knowledge and what makes the degree so powerful in the first place.
I don't see how adding more people to a shrinking job pool will make CS jobs more attractive. Having more people doing less work will only make salaries decrease. Then less people will want to go into CS at all.
The good thing now is that the get-rich-quick types are now overseas in India and China getting their degrees while the ones getting degrees in the US are the people who love CS.
At some point, an equilibrium will be reached where it will cost more to ship a job overseas than to keep it here. With graduates in India and China mostly in it for the money, we'll see that equilibrium point sooner than later.
Our current policies are making the world better for everyone excluding the US. For example, take our relationship with China.
China is still an authoritarian, fascist, communist government. By sending more and more of our manufacturing there, we become more under their influence and control. On top of that, they are the main group buying our debt and propping up our economy. As of now, we can't survive without them, but they can increasingly survive without us.
We are effectively making this evil government the next superpower. We are also making ourselves weaker in the process.
First off, there are a certain number of jobs that will never go overseas. Companies will always need developers, analysts, program managers, etc that understand the local culture and can translate that into products. Companies will keep critical work close to their headquarters in order to keep a close watch on the progress. And jobs requiring a security clearance working on sensitive government work will stay here in the local community as well.
Second, there is a point where the cost of shipping a job overseas outweighs the cost of keeping the job here. With the sinking of our currency and the rising of overseas currencies, we get closer and closer to that equilibrium point. On top of that, we can see salaries in India rising while salaries in the US sink, which is completely independent of the currency move. So, people in India are demanding more on top of the extra amount we have to pay because the dollar is sinking. That won't last long.
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Good luck finding any graphics programmers still using Pascal or Fortran. I'm sure you can find some old hackers, but very few people are learning those languages any more.
As for using assembly language for graphics programming, that's only practical for very small programs now when efficiency or size is paramount. Any graphics programs of moderate size are highly complex. There is little need to spend the time and effort to program in assembly when you can get something working in C++ in a fraction of the time.
It doesn't matter if I've been there or not. I still read. And there are plenty of writers who have visited there recently.
While China has started market reforms, the government is still communist and authoritarian. If they wanted to nationalize the US companies currently working in China, then they could do it in an instant. We would be helpless to stop them. That is a threat. And China becomes more of a threat every day that they consolidate their power while we give them ours.
I think a lot of people in this discussion are missing the point. C++ and Java are just tools for learning and doing computer science. The whole point of a degree program is not to learn how to program, but to learn the theories and ideas of development. Learning to program is a side-effect.
Tools like C++ and Java will age and eventually get replaced. You'll need to learn a new language next year and something else the year after that. The theories and ideas learned in CS courses will last you a lifetime. That is why people without degrees have serious gaps in their knowledge and what makes the degree so powerful in the first place.
If you want to do any real graphics work, including games, then C++ is the only language out there. Anything else is just too damn slow.
I don't see how adding more people to a shrinking job pool will make CS jobs more attractive. Having more people doing less work will only make salaries decrease. Then less people will want to go into CS at all.
The good thing now is that the get-rich-quick types are now overseas in India and China getting their degrees while the ones getting degrees in the US are the people who love CS.
At some point, an equilibrium will be reached where it will cost more to ship a job overseas than to keep it here. With graduates in India and China mostly in it for the money, we'll see that equilibrium point sooner than later.
Our current policies are making the world better for everyone excluding the US. For example, take our relationship with China.
China is still an authoritarian, fascist, communist government. By sending more and more of our manufacturing there, we become more under their influence and control. On top of that, they are the main group buying our debt and propping up our economy. As of now, we can't survive without them, but they can increasingly survive without us.
We are effectively making this evil government the next superpower. We are also making ourselves weaker in the process.
First off, there are a certain number of jobs that will never go overseas. Companies will always need developers, analysts, program managers, etc that understand the local culture and can translate that into products. Companies will keep critical work close to their headquarters in order to keep a close watch on the progress. And jobs requiring a security clearance working on sensitive government work will stay here in the local community as well.
Second, there is a point where the cost of shipping a job overseas outweighs the cost of keeping the job here. With the sinking of our currency and the rising of overseas currencies, we get closer and closer to that equilibrium point. On top of that, we can see salaries in India rising while salaries in the US sink, which is completely independent of the currency move. So, people in India are demanding more on top of the extra amount we have to pay because the dollar is sinking. That won't last long.