Random Thoughts of a Random Guy

IDEs are great! They allow you to develop software in a fast and efficent way. Whenever you have a big project you are well-advised having a powerful IDE at hand. But: As always not everything is as good as it looks like.

People tend to be lazy. That means if they have a working IDE most of them do not care about the underlying procedures. "Most of them" means most of my fellow students.

Last Monday we got a homework where we should do some ECharts stuff. It was pretty though. Mostly because we did not have any clue about ECharts and how to use them beforehand. The supervisor of the exercise did a very brief introduction into ECharts. Whatever, it was a pain. Actually I woke up in the night at 04:00 am and had my head full of transitions and states and stuff like that. So I got up an solved the exercise.

To come back to the topic: IDEs are evil, because while I solved the exercise using a simple editor and a very simple Makefile most of my fellow students are still trying to get started using their favorite IDE. They are still trying to set up a project. They are overdoing it. I even showed them how to use a simple editor and make. They did not care. They want to have a project in an IDE.
By the way: We are talking about compiling just 5 files. You do not need a IDE for that!

To clearify my point: IDEs are great. They are important as soon as you have a serious project going on. However you should know the basics. You should know your tools.

To use a analogue: If you want to cut up a small log of about 3 centimetres diameter you do not use a circular saw. You use a plain old handsaw. You use the tool with is best suited for the job. And which is fastest.

The same is true for computer science. You use the tools which are best suited. But therefore you have to know all tools. Not just the IDEs, but also the compiler, etc.

So IDEs are evil, because people using them tend to know nothing about the internals. Or to put it another way:

High abstraction is good, but in the long run you need to know more details

At the moment I am staying at The International Guesthouse Dresden. Which is quite nice. If you need a room you can just drop them an email and most of the times you will get a confirmation within 24 hours. So this was perfect when I was in Asia and got my admission for the university place. I just dropped them a line and got a place to stay. The rooms are newly renovated and prices are 245 Euro for a single room. To summarize: It is quite nice here.
But: As always there is a snag. Every now and then you will see some teenagers in suits. They have ties and everything. They just dress up like no normal teen should dress up. While passing by they will address you and because you are a helpful person you will brake hard, almost overturning you and your bicycle. You will wait for a question like: "Where is XY street?" or "How do I get to the tram?". Actually they are surprising you: "Do you believe in Jesus Christ?" Hell No! I even do not believe in God. And for this dumb question I almost had an accident? Are you mad? Have you had too many hard drugs? Have you had too many "spiritual experiences"? Do not get on my nerves!
That is what I wanted to say. However as I already told You: I am a friendly person. So I was very polite and said that I do believe in God and I never will. However these guys did not let up. They wanted to know why I do not believe and if we could meet for a chat. No no no. They even said that they could proof the existence of God. HA!
As far as I know Jesus Christ and God is all about belief. I think I can even recall something from the bible saying that God will not proof the existence of himself, because he wants us to believe. Wikipedia says:

Belief is the psychological state in which an individual is convinced of the truth or validity of a proposition or premise (argument) without necessarily being able to adequately prove their main contention to other people who may or may not agree

So I think we have a contradiction here: If these guys say they can proof the existence of God and God said that he will not proof his existence, than either they are talking about a different God or they are talking bullshit. Or God is a big liar.
Whatever is true, I do not care! And please guys: Do not bother me anymore! Two meetings with your club on one single day is more that I can sustain. Do not ring my bell, do not thwart me, get home, burn your ties, get a beer, get a girlfriend, get a life. An own life!

Yesterday I went clubbing with my flatmate Peter and Steve from the US. I am still not fully recovered. It was a long night and we had quite some beers. These beers and above all the presence of Peter and Steve led to an observation which is not new for me at all:

I am getting old.

It is not that I am feeling old or loosing my hair, but ....
I am just not the youngest anymore. A couple of years ago, I always was the youngest when I went out clubbing. Then there was the time when I was just as old as everyone else. Nowadays I am older than everyone else. And come on: I am not too old. I am 28!
So where are all the people of the same age. I do not know. At least they were not at the freshman party I went yesterday. :-)