Post 3195213 by bikecurious@whomst.dog
(DIR) More posts by bikecurious@whomst.dog
(DIR) Post #3110243 by scarly@soc.scarly.pink
2019-01-18T17:55:40Z
6 likes, 10 repeats
non-programmers are an important part of open source projects. non-programmer contributions are valid and useful and not second tier or otherwise less valuable.it's easy to say programmers are the only value-add when you're fortunate enough to have enough non-programmers that you can take them for granted.if you take away the feature requests, translations, and general chatter - many OSS projects would have never been more than flawed, narrow use case tech demos.
(DIR) Post #3193921 by KitsuneAlicia@octodon.social
2019-01-20T18:10:57Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@scarly Also bug testers. You don't need to know a lick of code to be able to bug test, though understanding the basic flow of things helps a lot.I don't know a lick of Java/C++/whatever, but I can still often figure out the exact part of the code that's messing up."The game displays the loading image, then it shows the ingame level for a split second before it crashes. During that time, it was still spawning the characters, so maybe it's a corrupt character model/texture."
(DIR) Post #3193941 by SallyStrange@eldritch.cafe
2019-01-18T19:33:30Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@scarly*Hospital gets new patient information software* "Gee I wish the programmers had talked to some nurses and doctors instead of just other programmers"*School gets new student assessment software* "Gee I wish the programmers had talked to some teachers and students instead of just other programmers"*Construction company gets new materials tracking software* "Gee I wish the programmers had talked to some installers and estimators etc"Just a trend I've noticed
(DIR) Post #3195211 by swift@sunbeam.city
2019-01-18T19:42:30Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@SallyStrange @scarly the company I used to work for were *awful* in a great many ways, but I have respect for the fact their business (patient records) got off the ground by having no idea what they were doing, going to pitches with clinicians, and asking them what the software should do, and making something that did that.
(DIR) Post #3195212 by SallyStrange@eldritch.cafe
2019-01-18T19:44:39Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@swiftAsking questions of people? Finding out their needs? Listening to them? Geez what a bunch of pinko pansies /sarcasm
(DIR) Post #3195213 by bikecurious@whomst.dog
2019-01-19T09:00:53Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@SallyStrange @swift What next, they'll want human readable documentation that walks them through how to set things up and use them in a reasonable way?**gasps**/sI've been trying to help a project as of late that desperately needs a few bugs fixed, but is missing documentation on the bulk of its features. Really frustrating that the main dev basically uses that as a sales tool to sell his videos on how to use it, rather than just write usable docs.
(DIR) Post #3195257 by zwol@mastodon.social
2019-01-18T21:31:02Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@SallyStrange @scarly I’m overly amused by this because my spouse’s job literally is talking to nurses and doctors about how the patient management system should work and then turning that into specs for the programmersMind you, this is the first job she’s ever had where they really genuinely get the value of having someone do that
(DIR) Post #3195258 by SallyStrange@eldritch.cafe
2019-01-19T00:39:21Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@zwolSee, it only took 30 something years for computer science to heal from its purge of the feminine @scarly
(DIR) Post #3195259 by SallyStrange@eldritch.cafe
2019-01-19T00:41:28Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@zwol @scarly*cue Narrator saying, "Computer science had not at that point fully healed from its purge of the feminine"
(DIR) Post #3195260 by scarly@soc.scarly.pink
2019-01-19T00:43:35Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@SallyStrange @zwol tbh, it's interestingmy field is accounting, and i have found that the accounting field has a frightening number of women in it that would have gone into computer science if comp sci hadn't been mortally toxicone of my favorite bosses began her career as a computer programmer using punch cards to do fancy mathematics; the field chased her away with the extreme shift towards male dominance
(DIR) Post #3195266 by pra@mstdn.io
2019-01-19T00:47:23Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
@SallyStrange @scarly in corporate settings this is as much a disconnect between management and workers as anything else. Imagine if nurses/teachers/estimators got to choose the tools they work with.But instead somebody divorced from the actual work gets bamboozled by salesmen.
(DIR) Post #3203327 by sydneyfalk@elekk.xyz
2019-01-18T19:36:28Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@scarly I think it's an unexamined assumption left over from the past "everybody will be a geek eventually" theory (which came true in the worst way early open source folk could imagine -- they all USE tech, even do things like design space programs IN them, but...few of them want to PLAY in the tech itself. exact antithesis of the spirit behind "everybody will be a programmer someday", IMO).the reality is that if you accept computers as a toolyou must accept some people just USE hammers.
(DIR) Post #3203328 by bamfic@hub.spaz.org
2019-01-20T22:45:15.525055Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@sydneyfalk @scarly The people who did think this way were the Steve Jobs's of the world who wanted computers to just be a black-box appliance-- no user servicable parts inside. They gave us closed platforms that can and are being used to exploit us. I'm not sure how to square this circle: open platforms that empower non-technical users but also empower technical users (to tinker, modify, improve, observe, audit) at the same time.
(DIR) Post #3203329 by sydneyfalk@elekk.xyz
2019-01-20T23:47:13Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@bamfic @scarly best thing I could imagine would usually be something like GUIs, as much as tech complained about their existence back in the dayrealistically I think there are efforts to fix this problem -- they just don't realize what problem they're actually fixing. simplified, explanatory, and more well documented distros, where the GUI is there if you need it, and easily ignored (because "at least it's linux") if you scoff at the thoughttech is omnipresent, though; we're all users now