Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years

Why is everyone supposedly in such a rush to learn their first (or another) programming language?

Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years

“The conclusion is that either people are in a big rush to learn about programming, or that programming is somehow fabulously easier to learn than anything else.“

I just revisited this essay by Peter Norvig, written in 2001 it looks like, but timeless in its pointedness and veracity.

Go read it. Laugh, cry, enjoy.

UPDATE –
While you’re in this abstract frame of mind, be sure to visit Abstruse Goose:

How to Teach Yourself Programming
    and
The Creation – Part 1
    and
The Creation – Part 2
    and lots more

IBM Notes 9 Client install fails with “RCP Base plug-in not found”–Help requested

I’ve closed my company Asia/Pacific Computer Services and am getting close to retirement from the IT industry. Having started at IBM Australia in January 1970 I doubt if I’ll reach the 50-year mark, but I’ve had a pretty long innings.

I’m still trying to keep my hand in with Notes/Domino. Every month or two over the last half year I’ve made a number of attempts to install IBM Domino and Notes 9.0 then and more recently the 9.0.1 versions. Note that this is a “virgin” installation, with no baggage left behind from earlier versions of Notes.

I reckoned that I had been sitting on Notes/Domino 8.5.3 for far too long, and that I’d have the typical smooth and painless upgrade to the next version.

The Domino server installation went swimmingly, no problems whatsoever,

However I’ve never managed to get the Notes Designer/Admin Client to install. It always reaches close to the end, as shown by the progress bar, then complains that the “RCP Base plug-in not found” followed by a roll-back of the installation:

Despite all my research (at the IBM Support website and everywhere else I could think of), I’ve not been able to get an understanding of what has been going wrong and how to overcome the stalemate.

I didn’t ever experience this problem with Notes 8.5.3. … What on earth is going wrong?

Your comments, suggestions and advice would be greatly appreciated (if polite)!.

MY ENVIRONMENT:
Windows 8.1 64-bit system. I always install Domino and Notes on a non—system drive, let’s call it the G: drive, with plenty of free disk space (this helps minimize the space needed for my daily backup of the system drive). Latest version of 32-bit Java installed.

The rattlesnake’s tail analogy, revisited

What does the following chart tell us?

To find out, go visit my Basic Questions blog, here.