> > That's not really true at all. There are plenty of very knowledgeable young
> > programmers out there, more than ever before. CS and EE departments are packed with
> > them. A cursory glance at the game development forums and communities out there
> > should dispel any notion that today's kids don't understand the fundamentals of
> > computing.
>
> Kids today are very knowledgeable about high-level languages and algorithms and the
> like. There's a lot less of the sort of hands-on knowledge of architecture that
> pretty much everyone acquired out of necessity on the classic 80s home computers, and
> which is basically a necessary prerequisite to understanding emulation. I'm not
> saying everyone needs that sort of skill set, or that it necessarily makes sense to
> cover it in depth in modern CS programs. But emulators rely on it heavily, and
> there's still a strong need for it in the game industry. (The demoscene also
> continues to lean in that direction, not surprisingly).
>
> And I think Bart skipped over Pernod's central point, which is that you acquired
> emulation-relevant knowledge out of necessity when working with classic computers.
> You don't anymore, and you haven't since Windows 95 finally displaced DOS. You have
> to explicitly seek out exposure to things like assembly language and memory maps and
> A20 gates. So obviously a lot fewer people end up knowing it.
True. I didn't get started until the late 90's but even then, DOS was still around and invaluable to my education. That said, I really regret not getting on the web bandwagon back in college.
I would contend that the low-level stuff is easily acquired. I know folks that have transitioned mid-career to embedded development, having never coded in their lives, who hit the ground running and within a year or two could be counted as experts and deliver tremendous value for their employers. With a basic academic understanding of circuits and digital logic, the rest is a snap, especially if the employer is willing to invest in the employee (rarer and rarer, these days, from what I see out there). It's actually the higher level stuff they find much less straightforward.
Bart
|
Previous 
Index 
Next 
Flat 
Re: Does anyone know how many dev are there work for Mame?
Reply
