Honest question from someone who never used any product from JetBrains: what those IDEs gives you in order to learn/debug a new codebase in such easy way?
Not OP but having used both PyCharm and Emacs, I really like PyCharm's visual debugging - when at a breakpoint you can see all variables in memory, their types, dictionaries and objects are nested. A lot easier than vanilla pdb.
I was exactly in your situation 2 years ago (at the start of COVID) and I know what you're going through. I'm not going to tell you to "stay strong" , emotions are a natural thing and should not be suppressed and it's ok to be vulnerable.
However, there are a few things that helped me get through the dark times, I am writing them below in the hopes that you may find them useful:
1. Exercise, this is absolutely critical. If you have never done it, it's ok, Julian has a great guide to get started: https://www.julian.com/guide/muscle/intro but there are also lots of guides online.
2. Nutrition is another one, stay away from junk food. Your brain will try to find comfort in high calorie / sugary foods, don't let it win. Eat vegetables and proteins instead.
3. Sleep is a tough one, but also important. Do whatever you need to sleep (exercising will help a lot). Your brain will keep you up at night, learn to recognize this pattern and avoid it when you can.
4. Make a plan. Grab a blank sheet of paper and think of one goal you would like to accomplish, then make the task into smaller sub tasks and from there derive a schedule for achieving it. This will help you stay productive and improve your state of mind.
5. Research. This oddly helped me a lot, I started researching psychology, relationships, listened to "dating" advice (I know.. some speakers were good, some were trash but I enjoyed them nonetheless), TED talks, books, etc.
6. Join communities. If you're an introvert like I am, this is difficult at first but you can start slow. I did this slowly, made a few friends online, then worked up the courage to join discord, then started messaging some of my old friends on Facebook, then had some phone calls and eventually met people face to face (whenever COVID restrictions would allow of course)
7. Don't reach out to your ex, when she/he calls you (and they will) don't respond, avoid contact with their families, don't read old messages, delete their picture, etc Trust me, you have been shot with high caliber rounds right now, you need to heal and they will only get in the way of it.
Thank you so much for this. I'm already doing some (2, 4, 5) others are planned for 2022 (1, 3, 6). But 7 is brutal. I was going to propose but things changed.
Anyway, again: thank you very much. This is very appreciated. Very kind of you.
Also would like to add one more: Read books especially ones that motivate you. I was in similar boat as you are a few years ago and the books like "The Checklist Manifesto" and "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living" helped me immensely.
This cannot be overstated - the uplifting effect of the written word feels much more potent than hearing it from a friend or scouring YouTube videos.
I have found this book (https://tinyurl.com/4k27x6s9) to be a wonderful resource. I know there are many more to recommend, but I would start with the basics.
Just the fact that you are already doing things to bounce back is amazing. All of your experiences would be hard to handle as one offs, but you are an incredibly strong individual for having all 3 happen at the same time. Take it a little bit at a time…I know HN can’t be with you in person, but we are with you in spirit!
The best way to get over somebody is to get under somebody else. Or over them. Or behind, or in front, or over cam, or whatever position and/or food/substance does it for you.
I went from a completely sedentary desk life to running a half-marathon in 7 months (includes a 1 month groin injury). On a treadmill, training myself.
You can do it, too, and the effect on mood is spectacular. In fact the effect on mood comes way before a half-marathon. So don’t get overwhelmed and think you have to do that much.
I'll add that virtually all running groups you find on Facebook or Meetup are very welcoming of new runners of all experience and ability levels. Having the regular schedule of a running group helps a lot with keeping up the regular exercise, especially when the weather gets questionable.
Running groups seem intimidating to everyone - even reasonably fast amateur runners. Once you go however you will find you will meet lots of interesting people all working to stay healthy or challenge their own personal goals. It's absolutely not a competitive environment.
They were intimidating to me so I never went. Add the weather variability, and knee wear when running on pavement, and I just stuck to the treadmill the whole time. Even for the half-marathons. I realize I missed out on the social aspect, but if you are running with headphones and huffing and puffing, how much socializing is there? I guess the socializing must happen before and after.
Even still, maybe I’ll give it a try. Thanks for the tip.
One of my weekly group runs is 4 miles followed by beers with the runners on an early week day evening. Monday nights another group offers options of 3 and 5 miles and we always wait for everyone at the half way point and finish point. Another one is Friday mornings at 6 am a 6 mile loop around the lake followed by coffee. Saturday mornings at 7 am one of my groups does long runs - those are especially cool because they provide many distance options (I usually go 13-18 miles) and people then group up based on pace. For the long runs I always run much slower than I would do otherwise - this is where it is really nice to have people to chat with.
I would never get up so early if it weren't for these groups.
Other than these running groups I actually don't have a friend group where I live. It's nice to consistently see a mix of regular and new people and do something healthy (except for your knees perhaps) together.
By the way I really like wearing Hoka One One shoes for their extra cushioning. Definitely helps with pavement.
If you are bored of pavement, at least where I live there are many trail running groups too. I just don't like having to drive far to start running.
Don't wait till 2022 or even tomorrow. You need to train your mind to see good habits like exercising as something fundamental as breathing instead of a chore. Start today. It can be little as single push up or a 10 sec plank. Start tiny and work your way up. Churning out a quick 25 pushups will soon be easy and effortless in a couple of months time if you can only do 1 today.
I'm not a fan of self help books in general but Atomic Habits really changed my mindset for good.
I heartily recommend the r/bodyweightfitness's Recommended Routine (https://old.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommend...). I found it extremely reasonable, convincing, and beginner-friendly. It has detailed progressions on what to start from if you can't do a pushup or other (all the way up to if you can do it on one hand or whatever), and is absolutely not condescending, instead gives amazingly practical advice. It doesn't ask you to do more than 8 repetitions of any major exercise ever in a series, regardless how advanced you are, and there's whole ton of explanations why it's enough and why physiologically the freaking breaks between exercises are important and must not be shortened. I found it amazingly anti-bullshit yet super approachable.
It's funny you suggested that because I use the r/BWF's Recommended Routine myself. I'm big on calisthenics and wish to do one arm push up and handstand pushups someday. BWF for the win because if a gym is closed because of a pandemic or if I'm on vacation, I don't want to feel my routine being disrupted.
I want to add to this... i set a goal a while back of doing the equivalent point in duolingo every day of like 2 or 3 lessons. that didn't work in the long term and the streak went away and i lost the motivation to keep "stubbing my toe" so to speak every few days. I changed it to 1 lesson a day and the streak is almost 700 days in a row now and there is usually some motivation to do an extra few lessons or not once you get going. but just doing it and making the goals small will build those habits. I would say start really, really small in the goals and it will pay off. do 5 pushups or even if it's just one pushup it will add up and make it more manageable and more likely that you will stick with it.
I'm sorry you're going through this. I went through a dark night of the soul a few years ago amidst some professional setbacks. More recently, I've been on the edge of losing my 17-year marriage; we are still exploring whether reconciliation is possible.
The vulnerability, honesty, and goodwill in threads like this always warms my heart and bolsters my faith in humanity. I'll offer my own contribution. I wrote a deeply personal book called "Eating Glass" about navigating these seasons when everything seems to fall apart. I mention it from time to time on HN when I think it could be helpful, but today I'll just post the entire book for free: https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/com.markdjacobsen/Eating+.... My passion is just to help others walking similar journeys. Consider it a resource if it's helpful.
I wish you well on your own journey, and everyone else going through similar experiences.
I realise you didn’t post this looking for advice (and I apologise if this is unwelcome), but if I can relate one small thing from my own personal mental health nadir:
Walk. Outdoors. In the greenest place you can find.
No, it won’t change anything that you’ve been through, but it really will help you to quiet everything for a small chunk of time to let your mind get a rest from it.
Please don’t ever think you’re inadequate. No-one, not even you, as any idea what might be waiting in your future :-)
To add to this great advice, if you feel lazy to start, get a good audio book and listen as you walk. It becomes a kind of reward for going for a walk, you get a chapter or two of a great book.
I'll second this advice: I can't walk alone when I'm depressed. The quieting effect of being alone just causes my mind to go crazy with all of my problems.
An audio book at that time, however, is a great solution. Audio books, for me, can't occupy my entire mind. I can't sit and listen to an audio book. At the same time, they occupy enough of my mind that I can't do other mentally intense things and pay attention to the book at the same time. I had used them for driving, yard work, and other boring tasks to quiet the noise in my head and the feeling of boredom[0] that the task occupies.
When walking with a good audio book, I can observe the world without the noise of my circumstances and it really is a peaceful exercise.
I would agree. The saying, "Idle hands are the devils playground" can be appropriated as, "An idle mind is the fertile soil of the depressed."
Although the reality is the mind is anything but idle for those predisposed to depression. The rumination, negative thought patterns and self-critical thoughts are worse than a prison sentence of solitary confinement.
For those who may not understand this, imagine standing over a 5 year old constantly berating them, in a horrifically negative way, for every action they take, good or bad. Now imagine the effects of that over years or decades.
I think going alone for a walk is a really bad idea/advice. I've always felt way worse after doing that because there is nothing to distract it so you just chew yourself up or at least that's how I do it.
Just some minor pushback. When walking, ‘look at chimneys’. There is something to be said for enforcing an uplifted posture, plus engaging with the light. Honestly, it makes a difference!
You were able to have a seven year long relationship. People spend their thirties or more without being in even one. I have tried and the best I could manage was 2 years. Second best was 4 months.
At least according to me you definitely are not inadequate :)
I’m like OP except that I have not had a romantic relationship as an adult (I’m in my thirties).
What OP brought up is what I think about the most: that I am too inadequate to just have a normal life. Just going to work is a little painful since I have to (over)hear everyone else talking about their normal lives.
Hang in there! Mental health is serious business, I hope you have a good professional you can turn to.
Programming is a great distractions, as others have pointed out. Make sure you don't use it to completely displace the pain you're feeling. You need to spend some time with it as well, that's how we humans deal with an it. Alternating between moments of distraction and periods of "dealing" is a good middle way, I think.
This is great advice, I often use programming to distract myself from some pain or other. It can be a useful tool but can also become a long-term avoidance which isn't healthy.
I'm also going through a breakup right now, albeit from a shorter relationship. I was happy to spend Christmas with my sister to have some illusion of a functional family, it was nice. It feels unbearable at times but I try to find solace in the fact the world is so vast and full of opportunity and so much more than what you're (I am) able to see in the current moment. Your plan to study to become a programmer sounds great and you'll be in a much different place in a year than you are now. Hope you can pull through until then.
I had some absolutely miserable times, which your comment reminds me of, when I was in my 20's. I'm 65 now, and my two grown kids have come to stay with my wife and my for Christmas. We played a board game for hours last night, like when they were young, and had lots of laughter together...
My point is that what you're going through will pass. It does take work; so keep up doing the things you know must be done to move your life ahead. You have received lots of good advice in this thread; I don't need to say more (except one thing I will add at the end). Do what you need to do, and this period will be over, and life will be good.
My one piece of advice is that I've found meditation is very helpful. It enables me to let go of negative thinking that arises from painful times decades ago, when those thoughts do arise. It's a very important part of my life now.
I lost some parts of my mental health too after two last years (unrelated to global “events”, and partly due to a failed relationship). Idk if it makes it easier, but you’re faaar from alone in it. Just live through the biggest of this, because when things clump up they feel much worse than they are.
Employee, significant other, these are roles we may adopt at certain stages in our lives, but they're certainly not everything. They represent only a fraction of your potential.
Another way to look at things is that you've just gained a tremendous amount of agency. You're no longer required to perform these roles. There are surely dreams or opportunities out there which you wanted to pursue but were never able to. Take whatever amount of time you feel is appropriate to grieve, it's very normal to experience distress in the face of radical change. Then pursue them. There won't be many times in your life when you're presented with a clean slate like this.
Same here but it's a 5 year relationship. Similar feelings... With a persistent, almost frustrating sense of hope for the future that seems more deeply rooted inside of me than any actual plan to build from zero again.
You're not alone in that experience. Which isn't information that has helped me at all. Except that I at least believe that others have been here and scrambled blindly and made it somehow too, so why not us?
My philosophy is to try to make an effort to make the best decisions you can make given what's available to you: your values, information and resources. When you live your life trying your best, you will be able to tell your future self that you did the best you could given each situation, and have no regrets.
Why? because even if your decision was mistaken, it was the best decision you could have made at that time.
That hit me hard. I am not in the same position at all but can feel what it must feel like. I have been in a few really bad situations in the past and strangely what helped me was realising that I had hit rock bottom but was still breathing and capable of doing things. So things could only get better.
You’re not alone, but you are unique. You’re existence is the only thing that can compute what comes next on this trajectory. There is a space of possibilities ahead of you that never have and never will be available to anyone else, ever. As such, you are infinitely and uniquely valuable.
Don’t feel like a failure over the relationship. Remember the default state of relationships is failure, well over 50% break up or the couple is miserable but still stay together anyway for various reasons. Try to learn from any mistakes you made when you get into the next one.
Hang in there! And to add to what others have said, I found it extremely helpful to stay away from sad music, romantic shows, etc. until you feel strong again. And keep your body moving!
Stay strong. I don't know your circumstances, but it's never too late to forgive or to ask for forgiveness. It's never too late to accept or redeem yourself.
If you're doing it to get your mind off things, it can be a wonderful distraction. One of the best in life, as far as I'm concerned.
I was mostly math illiterate too. Geometry was my strong suit, not manipulating symbols. Still want to learn PDEs someday just for fun, mostly because I have no idea how to model anything as a PDE.
But I would never try to learn PDEs to make money, because it would put me under a lot of pressure, since I wouldn't be doing it just for the knowledge. Just make sure you're having fun as you're questing your way towards programming. It's key.
Oh hell yes! That's awesome, and so are you. Please, definitely DM me on Twitter if you run into any roadblocks at all. I will always make time to help someone learn this stuff.
Believe it or not, you managed to hit on the most lucrative long-term strategy, too. That's exactly the mindset that the best programmers have. If you like it, then a job is pretty much a matter of time.
Best of luck, friend. Take care of yourself, and prioritize yourself. You're worth it.
I'm always curious what non-IT folks that use some rather IT-specific tools do (not that Emacs is just for coding like gcc, but it's pretty rare to see it jump over the wall).
Attorney but I read a ton of programming-related stuff, know how to use the command-line and used Emacs for a bunch of stuff. It's my shell, rolodex, text editor, calendar, file manager and, being Emacs there's a lot of little functions and stuff that I've built for myself and/or to make things easy.
This always amazes me to hear from non-IT people. I’ve spent so much of my life being forced to use Cybernetting AnyOffice* that I can’t see how anybody would have been exposed to anything else without being part of some rogue nerd culture.
Good on you, man, and honestly, I should be the last to take advice from, but you might benefit from a serious skills check-in to see what your real deck of cards is. Sit down and do it with someone who likes you and wants you to succeed, because it seems like you might not be in a state to evaluate yourself favorably. You might discover that you’re sitting at the top and selling yourself into the bottom. I did this, and it was disastrous for my career. There’s probably an upward step you’re not seeing.
I know plenty of tech-adjacent people whose interests stop at Wired articles, but it's really impressive you've actually dived (doven?) into the command line and Emacs, even to the point of building stuff!
You'll definitely be great at software engineering, as the intuition to dive deep into the bowels of these archaic ways of using a computer seems to come naturally! (especially compared to my attorney friends, who basically just use the browser, Outlook, and Word, and probably think a "command line" is some sort of military jargon)
I’m a senior web application programmer in the US and absolutely suck at math. Most of the field doesn’t require much math. Basic geometry and algebra would be enough. Knowing the basics of how to calculate combinations and permutations is useful.
Don’t be afraid to use a calculator when things get complex. Calculators are not cheating. But try to do as much in your head and on paper as you can. It helps to learn why things work.
You will get frustrated. Be patient and walk away for a bit when you need to. :)
I also suck at math. As a web dev, I don't need much but doing 2d/3d graphics gave me headaches for a while.
As a kid, I used to complain often and loudly that I would never need any of this stuff. Turns out I was wrong.
You can turn around your life. I did so in my 30s. I am only saying this because there's a high chance you are an old fart since you know and like kraftwerk.
hey man, I'm in my 30s as well and definitely feel like I'm restarting life after a LTR ended in the spring.
I like to remind myself of the encouraging phrase "We overestimate what we can can accomplish in a year, and under estimate what we can accomplish in five". Compounding gains is the game and humans always seem to underestimate their power
Lol, you don't need linalg for graphics programming. All you need is an understanding of geometry. Thinking of a matrix as a system of linear equations has never once helped me. Whereas thinking of a matrix as a combination of rotations and translations has been the only tool I ever needed, pretty much.
Just sayin', if someone is truly not a math person, saying "oh yeah, learn math and then learn graphics programming" is probably just going to discourage them.
ML is supposedly all about math. And sure, I could walk you through a backprop pipeline at this point. But it took me years before that was useful knowledge to me. The practical experience of doing it was way more interesting, and it lead to more knowledge than I would've gotten with a traditional path.
Basic linear algebra can be taught in elementary school. It definitely doesn't require a lot of background.
Most linear algebra courses and textbooks do. Without a lot of background, you'll run into a hard brick well.
A few good starting points
- Project Algebra's Road Coloring curriculum
- 3B1B (on Youtube) has a series on the geometry of linear algebra. You should have the mechanics of adding/multiplying matrices, but not much more
- Game theory is a nice place to explore early
Linear algebra is a many, many year progression. It's quite deep and interesting. But you don't need to start with singular value decompositions and whatnot. Start with those sorts of things, and then apply it in different domains:
- 3D graphics
- Image processing
- Control theory
- Quantum computing
- Data analysis
... and whatever else suits your interests.
After a decade or so, if rather fascinating deep dives, you'll have a deep understanding not just of linear algebra but of some rather interesting domains.
There must be a good ELI5 intro to linear algebra out there that doesn’t assume a ton of background but…
I agree with other comments that linear algebra has limited relevance to learning programming. Your experience with Emacs gives you a far bigger leg up than mastering linear algebra would.
> IMHO, programming (the practice) itself doesn't require math.
Strictly that is incorrect, but I get what you mean and agree with the point you’re communicating. I suspect it’s largely due to the rather dysfunctional way mathematics is taught in America.
Writing C for example requires knowledge of order of operations, inequalities, boolean arithmetic, and something very much like mathematical induction if you want your loops to terminate. Most programmers with the math optional mindset just don’t think of all the math they’re doing as math. For me the realization was empowering since once I realized I really was using a lot of math it inspired me to start filling gaps in my knowledge.
> order of operations, inequalities, boolean arithmetic, and something very much like mathematical induction if you want your loops to terminate
To a first approximation, this is a substantially more limited set of concepts than even low-grade math.
Iterating counters and loops is the most "general" math I've used on most problems, and for...each or equivalent auto-bounding functions over sized collections removes that.
Can you write a 3D engine without math? No. Can you write a DB engine without math? No. Can you write a general web app without math? Probably.
Point being: if your goal is to put food on the table by programming, a 2-year study plan worth of advanced math is better invested learning elsewhere.
My impression is that everything is introduced along the way and LA gives you intuition instead of expecting it from you. But I've never done any advanced stuff.
That’s so dope. More power to you! It is good to have hobbies outside of tech and programming too. I find when I’m stuck doing something else helps me figure stuff out. And it helps to prevent burnout.
Since I'm focusing on the job market, I'm collecting resources to learn C++. From what I gathered the best beginner book is Bjarne Stroustrup's Programming: Principles and Practice Using C++, which I think it'll be good since it's a programming book that uses C++ and not a book solely about C++.
Be aware that C++ is the organ of programming languages. There are many jobs that require this complex of a tool, but there are many jobs that do not.
I went BASIC -> C++ -> Java -> Python (some years ago) while learning programming. Learning memory management fundamentals in an unmanaged language felt enormously helpful in recognizing the bigger picture in later managed languages.
... But! It wasn't required.
Advice: Know what language(s) your target job market (there's a lot of programming) uses, and spend more time / practice on those. Most hiring folks don't know enough to evaluate language knowledge from a theoretically similar perspective.
If you're focusing on just getting a software job and not shooting for a particular industry where C++ is used heavily, there are far more jobs that use much easier languages (e.g. C#, Java, Python). C++ really takes some time to understand the myriad nuances that other languages obviate through GC (or not having templates, or simpler rules about overloads, or no intricate distinctions over value categories, etc).
Now if you're in to mastering complexity, C++ can be a great choice, as there are a ton of complex things to learn, but I would take a look at job postings where you think you might want to end up to see if it is actually required. It is very unsexy to talk about on HN, but for pure employability, Java (and other JVM-based languages) are probably the best in most areas. There are tons of remote jobs, and pretty much in any city, plus you can branch out into other JVM-based languages (e.g. Scala!) once you feel so inclined and still incorporate that at work. C# and F# have a similar "progression" and are now completely open source too!
Good luck, whether or not you end up choosing C++!
A bit of algebra is good to know but more math knowledge is really only required if you want to work in a domain which requires it like Machine Learning, graphics engines, Scientific Computing, algorithm development and some other domains.
So I would explore and see how far you can get in math before investing to heavily into a specific language. If you want to learn one that’s useful in many domains and is easy to learn while focusing your studies on math my suggestion is Python.
it shouldn't be required to have a social circle to enjoy the holiday season, if people truly extended christmas greetings and cheer to others around them. unfortunately since the 1950s, christmas has evolved into a commercial and transactional affair.
You are not alone; at least,... your struggles are shared. I haven't lost the job, but lost an 8-year relationship at the beginning of the month (about 7 days before my birthday). I'm guessing your mental health issues might originate from those events, or maybe not; I can't speak to those, personally -- I'm experiencing my share of depression, but I know it's because of my circumstances.
You're still alive, but you probably don't feel like you're living. Maybe life is becoming a bit like getting from one difficult thing to the next. And those "things" aren't anything that is normally difficult, but feels overwhelming. I've both been there recently and have been there, in the past. It's tough and my heart goes out to you.
Most advice is bad so here comes mine: get from one thing to the next for a little while. Take the time. You need it. And understand one thing: you're not special[0]. Whatever mistakes you're beating yourself up over many, many others have made and experienced the same or worse circumstances. The very vast majority overcome those mistakes, and many do it without medication, doctors or other treatment[1].
And then there's "later" -- whatever that is: During a divorce group meeting a gentleman said something that greatly affected my life: Whether its winning the lottery or becoming a quadriplegic, the happiness of both individuals looks pretty similar a year later. Neither have ever happened to me, but in my own life, that 1-year rule was something that time-and-again proved to be true. And my timeline is typically 3-4 months, not one year. As they say, "this too shall pass".
I've lost a great job in the past. I found a better one. I lost a pretty rough relationship, not by choice, to the point that I'm not interested in doing that again. I hate being alone[2], but I know that the sting will fade and I'll start dating, again. And I know there's someone who will want to share life with me in a way that is more fulfilling than my former relationship was.
Easily the biggest factor, for me, was re-discovering my Christian faith. I realize there aren't a lot of us in this place and I'm not interested in being preachy -- to each his own -- but its really the only thing I can credit with getting me through a really rough tragedy about a decade ago. It wasn't "being surrounded by other caring people at church" which caused me to be less lonely or made my life better because of that. I don't put myself out there very easily. I didn't know anyone at my church and didn't meet anyone until well after those circumstances passed. It was prayers, all of which were answered, several of which were answered in ways that I refer to them as miracles. Yeah, yeah, I can explain them as coincidences, too. They're not but I'm not going to attempt to defend that.
The only other bit of advice I'd offer is stay as far away from alcohol or other mind altering substances as much as you can. One of the ways out is finding a purpose for your life to replace the ones you've lost. This will be impossible if you add another layer of resistance on top of the problems you already have. You lost. You're not a loser. You had a 7-year relationship. You had a job. Those came from something you did and you probably had far more success in those places than you had failure, but you won't be able to see that clearly right now.
I'm praying for you and your circumstances. This time of year really amplifies loneliness. I'm right here with you.
Merry Christmas!
[0] I chose that word intentionally, not insultingly. When I'm depressed it's easy to feel like I'm the only one who's going through what I'm going through and that I'm uniquely cursed. Somehow using the word "special" to describe that situation makes it seem a little less difficult.
[1] I'm not saying don't do this -- I see a psychologist, regularly, now and have been doing that for a few years. Finding a good psychologist changed my life and it might help you, too. I only mention this because it helps to get past the whole "I'm too depressed to call a doctor/doctors, so I'm going to be stuck here forever".
[2] To clarify: I like alone time, I don't like "being alone". My family all lives pretty far away, I have few friends close by, I have a 3-bedroom house with "just me", I have my children part-time. I spend a lot of time stuck with my thoughts these days, but comparing today to 3 weeks ago, I'm happy a lot of the time now -- maybe most of the time.
You can't always control much in life, but one thing I've learned that you can always control is perspective. Sometimes it's nice to be the "This Is Fine" dog, blissfully ignoring all that isn't right, and focusing on what is (that cup-o-joe in front of you?) Doing that can help when awaiting calmer seas.
Hang in there. I think the past two years have been rough for many, so you aren't alone in the struggles. If you haven't already gotten diet and exercise to a good point then that can also be good for helping both the body and the mind.
Additionally, I'm always up for a chat, if anyone ever needs someone to reach out to.
I want it too but Nim is 13 years old so not a young language. Compare it to Zig, which is 5 years old and I don't see it coming anywhere outside its niche.
A lot of the "up-and-coming" languages out there are on the order of 10 years old.
Programming languages are getting better and better. The standard of adoption is so high that, without major corporate backing (like Kotlin), it takes that long to get the language good enough & "big" enough (in terms of network effects) that people can start to seriously consider using it at work.
Also I think there is somewhat of a pendulum swing occurring in programming languages in general. People seem to be taking an interest in learning more and weirder programming languages, and taking interesting ideas and design patterns from those languages. And a lot of lessons learned from the "Age of Dynamically-Typed Scripting Languages in Production", too.
I took a look, because I thought: "Do they even touch on recursion and all the things, that SICP does using Scheme, which usually in Python are inelegant or cumbersome? Lets check recursion."
They do have the examples at https://composingprograms.com/pages/17-recursive-functions.h... but no where one the whole page is the word "overflow" or "stack" even mentioned. Almost as if one does not want to mention, that recursion is a bad idea in Python in cases, where you do not know about recursion depth, because of the limitations of Python itself. So the book is teaching an approach, that often might not be a viable good solution, simply ignoring the problems of the chosen tool. On the surface the book looks like good teaching material, but these problems need to be stated, so that beginners know about them.
Don't get me wrong. This is already a much better learning experience than with most C/C++ tutorials, but it definitely leaves things to be improved.
