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Joss451on Do You Really Want to be Doing this When You're 50?

I've been programming for 37 years. Programming is learning and learning makes me happy. I don't hunt, fish, play golf, chase women or drink in bars. I learn. I discover. This vocation is perfect for me.

Joss451on It all began with a strange email

For the sake of Pete, someone remove the parens from this man's keyboard.

Joss451on FBI pushing for surveillance backdoors on websites

Can't they just borrow it from the NSA?

Joss451on Poll: How long have you been programming?

My first language was 360 Assembler in 1974. A different time and space.

Joss451on What I've Learned About Smart People.

I've noticed the pseudo-smart are quite annoyed by questions. RTFM, they reply. That's pseudo-smart for "I don't know".

Joss451on Evernote: Company of the Year

I was impressed by their decision to drop .NET and go C++ on MS. I use the product daily and have for the last 13 months. It's as important to me as email.

Joss451on Watch a VC use my name to sell a con

I've lived through a programmer's career already. Everything was good until age 50 when my body punished me for punishing it for 25 years.

Seven heart surgeries. High blood pressure. Damaged kidneys. Removal of an inner ear (from flying while ill and not getting to a doc in some place or another).

Take care of your body, blokes. It's the only thing keeping your brain intact. The cummulative effect of stress over a number of years is to attempt to kill you.