I like that you said you are an "iOS programmer" that's the problem with programming today. you are not a programmer. if you were a programmer, you would be able to make sense of that document. so to answer your question, 20 years from now, programmers of that era will be able to make look at iOS programming docs and understand it, meanwhile "20 year future language programmers" won't. I say this because I learned gameboy programming in my first year of college (1997) by learning z80 and reading gameboy programming text files that were probably around 5 pages. that low level programming, till today serves me well.
Truly spoken like someone who has never written iOS programs. Some iOS programs are actually truly inspiring and I know of many people who haven't gotten into that market because it's too competitive (programming wise).
FWIW, I know my x86 assembly and am not an iOS programmer. But I have huge respect for good iOS programmers. Some of those apps are phenomenal.
He's not claiming that someone who programs for iOS is a bad programmer. At all.
He's claiming that people who identify themselves as an "iOS programmer", rather than just a "programmer", aren't really programmers. A "programmer" might be able to write inspiring stuff for iOS, but they haven't pigeon-holed themselfs into being an "iOS programmer"
> I know of many people who haven't gotten into that market because it's too competitive (programming wise).
Or because it's a market where really awesome programmers can't distinguish themselves from good-enough average ones because few customers can discriminate between those.
The framework is glorious, the underlying user-base code can still be utter horse shit. Any programmer that doesn't know assembly is worth his weight in basic.
hmmm. a bit harsh and inaccurate to call him "not a programmer." We are all really just digital stage managers.
Here's the secret to understanding the difference between API'ists and low-level programmers: time-to-market.
iOS programming is deeply mainstream in the market right now, so elaborate frameworks are available for it. GameBoy was waaaay ahead of its time and had no APIs for developing.
The same is true today: If you want to get ahead of the market, you can take the hit in complexity and develop for a lower-level of hw/sw, like the Parallela, in exchange for a short-term advantage, but there's no mainstream market yet. Or, you can write a great iOS app today, but you won't be the first. The initiative was lost a long time ago.
It's all about withstanding the headaches of bleeding-edge HW and SW, versus gaining the edge of being earlier to market.
If you're assembling a team, you want a range of abilities, from lowest-level people who can tell you what's really going on down deep inside up to the APIists who can leverage the work of many others to get access to widely-used features.
What makes you think that a "low-level programmer" can't do time-to-market stuff? That's like saying that a professional writer and proofreader can't fire off a quick SMS to his friends (sometimes with a typo, but nobody cares).
ah, i can see how my comment could create confusion.
I was actually intending agree with you, to mean that the low-level programmers are precisely those individuals who achieve the time-to-market. They can wade through the specs and configure devices before the polished API becomes available.
I don't see any reason why "future" programers could not just learn low level stuff. Your reasoning is completely subjectively based. Programing is something more than just specific knowledge.
programmer from dictionary:
>>a person who writes computer programs; a person who programs a device, especially a computer. <<
OP is referring to programmer in the same vein as someone refers to an 'artisan.' You wouldn't call someone an artisan if all they do is manage the inventory order from Baked-Cakes-For-Fakes. There are far too many 'programmers' who can't code their way out of a paper bag. If you don't know assembly you probably blow at debugging, and that's amateur.
Great attitude. That's like saying people that program in ASM on graphical displays aren't real programmers due to not using the old punchcard system. Get over yourself.
This 100%. It pangs me to see people call themselves .NET programmers or iOS programmers. You're either a general programmer or you're a class act. I know about 20 languages at this point and they all serve me well. You can bet you're going to need to know the hardware as well as assembly translation when you're not designing a stupid social app. Or well, don't learn assembly and continue to be mystified by the lldb debugger assembly dump in XCode, "that's just low level tundra tuft, lemme just close that and add some print statements..".sigh
i'm sure there are many talented .NET programmers who could quickly pick up assembly and become much more productive than you in that language... if they had a good reason to learn it.
That's not how it works. There's a reason unintelligent folk stick to one thing, it's because their aptitude does not stretch well across multiple venues. Programming is like chess, most good chess players play bughouse, losers chess, etc.. .NET is like sticking to 20min chess your whole life. You might get good with t but you have no dynamic range...
