I almost have the same symptoms. I am not depressed. I can interact well socially, I feel joy in my activities, I see good in things...
But still - none of it has any 'true' value to it. I'm completely lost. I guess I'd leave this alone if I'd know for sure that there is nothing of 'True' and everything is subjective. But I don't know this.
I think what we actually should worry about is what is the underlying reason for all this international development.
I am not implying it is wrong, but this is what most of us seem to be aspiring after - "making the world a better place" (without giving it any further thought).
But why? Is this really most important? How would we go about finding what is most important?
You described everything very well what I am like and what I think of the subject. It is nice to know that I am not alone.
I am also nomadic, although yet a university student, still making it eventually possible working in an industry capable of earning over $100k per annum. Nothing would change if it was not as prosper.
Perhaps it's a bit offtopic, but as I have not found myself a good pet language that I'd truly make my favourite yet, being a 21-year old university student, is there any other reasons of studying, learning C++ as an all-around language, than being in the game industry? The dream of working for a company like Valve has pushed me into learning C++, but I am not so sure anymore whether that is a good choice due to both the horror stories and simple statistics. I want to make the best possible investment in my future and so these kind of articles are strong manipulators.
I do love programming, even more than games, so it wouldn't be a problem for me to work at something less gamey. But should I nonetheless continue with cherishing C++ and making it the best language for me? Your replies are highly valued. Also, I do understand, that in reality, it's unlikely ever about just one language.
C++ has plenty of uses outside games and it's still one of the most demanded languages, although here on HN most people seem to work on web development and rarely need C++.
The truth is, if you don't like C++, you won't like working on an industry that relies heavily on it (however, not every game is done in C++, and certainly few games use it exclusively), so in that case it may be a good idea to go for another industry where you feel more comfortable. If you like C++, of course, keep using it, and don't worry about finding a C++ job, they're still very common.
The best advice, and the one you'll read around here most often, is: don't learn a single language. It's OK that you specialize in C++ (so do I), but never put all your eggs on a single basket. From C++ you can very easily go to C, Java and C#, which also provide a lot of jobs, and outside of the C family there is a whole universe of languages you should always be aware of.
I really like the way C++11 is and I already see how it is in so many ways more likeable than Java as an OO language. But a question arises: would the common C++ jobs be maintaining legacy C++98 codebases?
Also, when I am thinking about possibly being in web development, then is it a much more diverged path from the C family or could I somehow keep this as an open option? Is the easiest solution simply learn e.g. Javascript in parallel?
In academia there are a lot of ad hoc scientific simulations, and yes, many people still prefer C++ over Matlab, R or Numpy (because of speed or because they feel more comfortable with it). In those cases, you'll write a few medium-sized programs from scratch, and will probably be free to use the new features.
In videogames you will likely develop new code over an existing engine, which means that C++11 may be available, but the engine will probably be written in an older version of C++, and C++11 maybe won't be allowed during engine maintenance.
When maintaining big ancient systems, which are all over the place, chances are that you will be restricted to C++03 or maybe an even older version, but it's not the only possibility, so you may get lucky.
In any case, C++11-ready compilers should accept C++98 and C++03 code, so there is always the option of starting to use modern compilers, and when every potential problem is solved, you can use the C++11 features. Just hope your boss is not too averse to changes, and keep in mind that mixing modern style C++ with older style may result in poorly readable code.
As for web development, well, there actually exist a few people using C or C++, but the only languages from the C family you're likely to find on a web server are Java and C#, and they're less and less prevalent nowadays. You're more likely to find PHP, Python or Ruby. In the client you're obviously restricted to javascript, but beware: despite the syntax, it's very different from the C family. If you want to learn javascript, that surely won't hurt, just keep in mind that it carries a few paradigm changes (lack of static typing, object modeling and inheritance through prototypes, and A LOT of quirks about the syntax).
Not a big fan of the changes here either.
However, I must note that this:
"At the same time we added a living element to it with a new LED in the logo middle giving it a “heartbeat” of sorts. It’s functional too, showing the PC’s status of on or in sleep."
This feature has always let me distinguish my high-end T420 from other cheaper, worse models which have the ugly red led.
With T420 I somewhat feel like this is the last good Thinkpad of the T-series, but of course I am biased.
Thank you for this comment! I otherwise would have dived straight into the C++ course as I have been thinking about learning it for a while now.
That said, do you or does anyone have a reccommendation on an online tutorial/course for learning C++? I already have a few years of programming experience, mostly in Java, Python and Haskell. I hope it is not the wrong place and time to ask such a question.
Crap, I did not actually check the content to verify its quality. Thank you very much for pointing that out! You've reminded me to be more careful about offering advice, lest I do more harm than good. Again we are reminded to be wary of the advice/help given by others, even if under the best intentions.
Don't be surprised, it's classic marketing. The easiest problems to solve are the problems your customer didn't know they had. The marketing pitches for such solutions always begin by introducing you to a problem you didn't know you had.
