On Sat, Jan 12, 2013 at 07:11:32PM +0000, Konstantinos Vasilakos wrote:
> Hi live coders, again with my philosophical questions, this time I would
> like to ask as the title suggests "is live coding only for programmers as
> an audience"
Yes, indeed it is, I feel.
I go further; I feel the audience should not just be all programmers,
they should be programmers of a certain skill level and experience,
not just anyone with some phd in CS, or whatever.
I make it clear that there are demands (in particular at least 3 years
of experience in embedded programming, a solid knowledge of compiler
design, proven skills in web-design with database backends and having
worked on at least one device driver in current use) on the flyer.
Sadly some people try to fake it so in case doubt arises I put a
whiteboard at the entrance so the bouncer, after frisking for drugs,
weapons and language specifications, can ask prospective attendants
to present solutions to problems crafted for the occasion to verify
their ability.
This has gotten some critique for supposedly being "elitist" but I
feel that people are all different and that we should appreciate and
cherish those differences.
The main reason why I recommend this policy though is that it is a lot
of fun. Typically the regulars hang out at the entrance to watch
prospective attendants try to solve problems like "the tower of Babel"
(like the towers of Hanoi, except with only a single tower made out of
a infinitely bendable kind of rubber that can bend in 4d space) in
Brainfuck or Piet. This is so much fun, especially when they start
crying. I don't know whether you programmed a lot on Piet, but Piet is
really the last language where you want your ink to be running. Oh,
how we laughed then.
Hope that helps,
Kas.
PS. No. I did one session with a friend who has dyscalculia on
hand-percussion and another with drunk people "cage-dancing" in a broken
phone-booth that happened to be present. I'm quite sure it doesn't
matter at all, but that's a less amusing position to take :-p.
Received on Sat Jan 12 2013 - 20:12:15 GMT