OSDev.org

Is it just me or has there been a resent sharp increase in the number of people making accounts on osdev and then asking questions like how do you assemble/compile code.
Why has there been a sudden in the number of people who should be learning to code under an OS wanting to make an OS, as as most of us know it isn't a task for people who are learning to code.
Anybody else find this weird?
(If this is stupid (which it probably is), please tell me to shut up...)
Jules

I'd say it has been happening for the entire time I've been reading os development forums. Some times you get more than others but it is pretty much always there.

edit: I think I should add that this problem/phenomenon is not limited to osdev but exists on nearly any development/programming forum. Take a quick look at the gamedev forum for examples of "hi i kno html and i want to make a mmo where you are not limited by anything and you can do everything liek in real life."

A constant downward slope, in my perception too. I've voiced concern over the "signal / noise ratio" several times before, but I guess it's a society thing.

On the one hand, computer beginners today are much further away from "the real machine" as opposed to, say, C64 kids. In the Good Old Days (tm) your computers came with BASIC manuals, and even loading a game involved typing a couple of command lines. Today, kids get leet at CounterStrike or WoW before they can even type properly.

The other point is the amalgamation of "you can do anything" and "you are only worth something if you stand out" that kids get fed today. I can still remember how I grabbed the BASIC v2.0 manual over and over again because wanted to learn. Today, learning takes a poor second place after achievement...

I'll stop here before I really start ranting like an old fart.

It's the sign of the times we live in, nobody wants to put the time and effort into learning something from the ground up.
I also think there has been a big drop in the number of coders that believe some OS will beat M$, it was very common to see a buzz around this and that OS, but this does not happan anymore.

Just a thought. Use the words in their post as keywords to a search of the wiki before the post is committed to the forums. As in they push post, then they see another confirmation below some links to articles in the wiki that could help them.

I have no real way to gauge how useful it would be, and I already assume the big reason why it would fail since no one would take the time to click the links or am I wrong by chance?

Well, some people are just too lazy, they refuse to read rules, refuse to STFW and refuse to listen when they are told to apply the rules Those people are such an obvious annoyance that it's hard to see past them.

But when I try counting the people that are actually around at one time, it seems we take the good things for granted:

Order of Merlin, first class: Solar, Candy, Brendan
High council: JamesM, Bewing, AJ, Colonel Kernel
Master wizards: KevinMcguire, Dex, Alboin
Wizards: Yayyak, Jaaman, MessiahAndrw, hckr73
Mages: piranha, inflater, neon, brynet-inc, 10000101
makes 19 regulars that know a good deal enough to help people.

Compared to that there are just 10 new people, of which only a half is actually at the wrong address.

IMHO the best way to filter out the badguys is to have mods authenticate first posts. That way we can filter out the clueless ones before they would make it to the public display. (Which makes it harder to clean up as all of the regulars that got there before me have already posted a reply)

Also IMHO, there are too many threads about (no) STFW and (no) Noobs around. In fact they seem to chase each other like Ying and Yang. Looks just like stereotype holland with its something-wrong-with-everything attitude. Which results in the same things being said over and over again. That's something that annoys me

That said, I'm going to make a poll in a strategic location to have a more objective idea what any of the people have to say.

Edit: poll here

You forgot to mention Pype.Clicker, though I haven't seen him post in ages.
(Snif... I didn't get a mention, oh yeah, I'm nearly a noob....)
Jules

What happened to Pype? Last post was a while ago.

-JL

piranha wrote:What happened to Pype? Last post was a while ago.

-JL

According to his OS page, he apparently got fed up with the x86 arch.

Well, to some extent it's also a side-effect of making more and better info available in the wiki, and searching the forums.

The programmers who show up but are *not* clueless can get quite a long way by themselves, without having to ask a question. The better the tutorials, the better the wiki, the less they need to post.

So you see a statistical increase of posts by n00bs, over newbies -- as defined by Combuster.

Piranha wrote: What happened to Pype? Last post was a while ago.

-JL

I believe that he posted a topic about him halting his project. I was really looking forward to his OS. Too bad he never kept on it.

Solar wrote: The other point is the amalgamation of "you can do anything" and "you are only worth something if you stand out" that kids get fed today. I can still remember how I grabbed the BASIC v2.0 manual over and over again because wanted to learn. Today, learning takes a poor second place after achievement...

True.
I began PC programming on a 386 16 MHz writing a simple SVGA game in Pascal. But to use graphics at an acceptable speed on a 16 MHz CPU and an ISA videoadapter, you really need assembly programming. So everyone programming things like SVGA graphics and sound learnt assembly language. You need detailed knowledge about the hardware.

Since Windows '95, programmers learn the Windows API. Can do all those things from any high level language. Computers are fast enough and full of memory. So people who begin with programming don't need detailed knowledge about hardware. When these people want to write an OS, very much knowledge and skills are missing. But much skills needed for OS development was even needed in the old < 100 MHz DOS times.