You could do most of that before things started turning to shit.

I do believe we're past the golden days of traditional desktop computing for sure. But we're really still at the beginning of the mobile boom. And not only that but the concept of the smart-house (I don't know what else to call it) as well, we have barely just started down that road.

That simple statement defines everything I don't want from my computing devices, but it is the way we are heading, I can't deny that. Advertising, advertising, advertising. I realize I'm in a minority of folks here, but I am a bad consumer. I am not into consumerism at all, in fact, at times I flat out can't stand it, it literally makes me want to throw up when I think about how money-obsessed our society still is in the year 2015. I am very much a minimalist. I'm also a gigantic privacy advocate. So for me, the idea of a hyper-connected future where every device knows you, your innermost secrets, and is always trying to advertise to your personal tastes, is a future I want absolutely no part of.

Like I said, we are heading that way and I realize that I'm likely in a minority of people who feel the way I do about it. Younger generations are getting more comfortable (being groomed?) with sharing their entire lives on their always-connected devices and they seem to be caring less and less about any concept of privacy. Of course, a future without privacy doesn't have to be bad. But let's be realistic here: How many of us trust corporations or our governments to be responsible with our personal data? Exactly.

I agree, straight upgrades in most cases... But not all...

My example including clamps and steel and cord was specific, because of how cord is used, repaired, etc.

Cord and rope has a lifespan, and when that lifespan is done (frayed, damaged, or no longer reliable due to wear and tear) it gets a new life as something else. Rope would be reused, or broken down for tasks that don't require heavy lifting. The cord from such ropes like hemp and twine would go towards more decorative purposes, like the outer sleeve for jugs, to help with keeping large metal from clanging loudly, or as rugs. At the very end, it could be used for fire either as tinder, fuel, or make char cloth.

Unlike metal which once it breaks, well you throw it away and it's useless since 99% of the time the people who use it can't melt it down and reuse it in some fashion. Had a rope broken in the middle you could at least re-tie it with some skill and make use of it till you had to replace it, while with metal and clamps and whatnot, it's just done...

Sorta shows up a lot at the store. I look for camping and survival equipment, and i find rain jackets and tarps that although useful and probably would do the job, if they get damaged you can't repair them, sew them or modify them because they are 100% polyester. Unlike canvas and oilcloths which can be reused when they are damaged or break, once these are damaged they are pretty much done... use duct tape and hope it holds out until you replace it. I wouldn't expect more than a season while with a good oilcloth i could repair and reuse, i'd expect years of service out of it.

Testify, brother! Couldn't have said it better myself. Although I get the feeling I'm not quite the extreme minimalist that you may be, I feel very much the same.

Many ATMs in the world ran OS2/Warp for just as long. they were stable as fuck and AFAIK never hacked or phreaked. although for OS2, it might be a case of security though obscurity.

http://www.aaxnet.com/design/os2.html

http://www.wired.com/2015/07/hackers-remotely-kill-jeep-highway/

oh and an couple of guys took almost complete control of a moving car ,on a public road, exactly because it was cutting edge and had the latest toys. think about what you're saying here.

No, because it was vulnerable. There's not even a correlation to being cutting edge. There are more vulns being found in XP than win 7, 8, and 10 put together.

Cutting edge doesn't equal secure, but also doesn't equal broken. Just new.

nope. still think it's a decent example, cars made before they started putting microchips into all of them wouldn't have such "I.T." security issues in the first place. i think they just called it "computer science" in general back in the day. however they do have more safety and maybe heatlh issues, which probably killed lot more people than hackers.

more often than not, new technology creates new problems.

Old vs new is one thing and doesn't directly translate to safer or less safe, I'm more concerned about corporate IT security which is shockingly lax. Most companies skimp on spending enough money on IT security because it doesn't directly translate into profit or they can't afford it. Hiring extra IT professionals for security is very expensive, especially in places like Sweden and Switzerland. Small and medium sized companies usually can't afford it and as a result are the target of the majority of cyber attacks. But even large companies that one would think could afford better IT security get hit, with less frequency but vastly more media coverage when it happens.

Honestly, the issue I see is how hostile new platforms are to casual programming.

For instance:

Windows doesn't come with a compiler; you need to find and download it. Furthermore, the environment doesn't lend itself to casual programming. The book "The Art of UNIX Programming" discusses some of the issues with Windows (a little outdated, but modern Windows is based on Windows NT):
http://www.catb.org/esr/writings/taoup/html/ch03s02.html#nt_contrast

Mac OS X, I think, is actually better than Windows in this respect, largely because underneath the pretty GUI is a UNIX variant. I believe you do need to register (but not pay) to download a compiler from Apple.

GNU/Linux is the best choice. On Debian-based systems, just apt-get install build-essential and you have all the tools needed to develop C (and I think C++) code. (You might want to install more libraries or a good code editor, of course, but you can just install them through the package manager.) Then again, GNU/Linux is modeled after old UNIX systems, and therefore does not exactly count as a "new platform". However, computers generally don't come with GNU/Linux pre-installed.

iOS is the worst (if you don't count dedicated game consoles and handhelds); you can't even run your own code on an iOS device without paying Apple (I think something like $99 a year), so it is unsuited to casual programming.

Android is a little better, but you still need another device to actually write the code: programming on Android itself isn't possible unless you can find an app that lets you do so, and even then the touch screen interface does not lend itself well to writing code.

ChromeOS doesn't come with a compiler or other program, and if you want to do this sort of thing, you need to enable a special "Developer Mode". (There is a "crosh" shell that allows you to ssh into another machine and write code there, but that needs another computer.)

Actually I think we are still in Golden Age of PC and we entered it somewhat recently (post-2000). Pre-2000 good PC would cost you an arm and a leg. PCs are still quite expensive now, but much more affordable.
Depends. Cornerstone of all programming is C++ and Assembler. MS Windows doesn't really have anything to do with programming languages. It, however, provides framework (XNA) to make games, as well as DirectX APIs.

Compilers are purely part of programming languages, not OS. If some programming language doesn't have ready compiler (issue with many high-level languages), it is the problem of that programming language and its makers, not OS.

There are free available C++ packages, which have everything one needs for programming (including compiler, ofc). There are probably still some working variants of Delphi and other less convoluted programming languages which come with true compilers (instead of built-in interpretation of byte-code).

There are also some interesting free engines, like Panda 3D, there are some nice Java libraries for easy cross-platform programming, and so on. So I'd say Windows offers quite a lot in terms of casual programming. Not that I am fan of MS.

Yes, but you really need to seek those things out yourself. In particular, a child playing around with the system is much less likely to stumble across the means to write her own computer programs than on GNU/Linux.

On GNU/Linux, however, all you need to do is something like "apt-get install build-essential" and you have a complete toolchain to build binaries from source code for your OS. Gentoo Linux is even better because, being a source-based distribution, it necessarily has a C compiler installed.

Also, high level languages like Python are perfect for casual programming, especially for beginners. The thing is, while Python code runs more slowly, it takes much less time to write. Also, if performance is an issue, you can use libraries like numpy or programs like cython and pypy to speed it up. (Also, Python is often pre-installed on GNU/Linux systems because distribution-specific tools (like Gentoo's portage) are written in it.) Once a new programmer has learned Python, it is then much easier for her to learn other, lower level languages like C.

Lets talk again in 10 years, maybe then you'll be up to date with what the situation was like in 2015.
If somebody wanted to start programming, I'm pretty sure they'll be able to find what they need.
Are you for real?
In what world is Gentoo in any way easier to use than anything else?

I was going to reply to this, about my own thoughts but it seems i doubt i'll add much from my early childhood (10-14) experience, with debug.com, Qbasic, VB4.0, being self taught with no help, and other opinions that might not all be based in fact...

Still i agree with dtgreene. A lot of GNU/Linux distributions include the core compiler tools. (No wonder since packages sometimes include only source and get compiled before being installed on the system...).


Notepad++ has sections to plug into compilers of your choice, but can't compiler itself... no... But Notepad++ IS good at highlighting common language shared/specific keywords and nesting... Although some languages make it have to be updated a little...

As for BASIC programming, the sheer limitations set in the languages from ram/rom limitations although may show them some programming, it's total spaghetti code, and a bad place to start any serious programming, but fun if you never use gosub/return.