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"Kids Can't Use Computers" is now ten years old, and it's only gotten worse
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this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2023
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https://www.pcgamer.com/students-dont-know-what-files-and-folders-are-professors-say/
Apparently this has become a widespread problem in colleges starting in the last decade.
As a current computer science college student who was a TA for 2 semesters, can confirm... It's wild out here
It amazes me the sheer number of developers whose hands I need to hold for even the most basic tasks that my elderly mother even knows how to do. I've worked in tech for about 15 years, and the terms "developer" and "tech nerd/enthusiast" used to be synonymous, but over the years, that's less and less true.
The tech nerds use to be the ones getting CS degrees. Now it seems like it's just another degree for indecisive majors and most of the kids I see starting out today aren't passionate about tech - it's just a degree/paycheck. It's just baffling to me lol. I work in support, and most folks on my end are big tech nerds still.
I agree, there is a noticeable difference between those who went into tech for $$$ and those who are passionate about it.
I read the (original?) article on the Verge covering this and my understanding is that it's not an issue. The files/folders way of thinking is already a metaphor for 0s and 1s scattered around on silicon. Using a "laundry basket with a search robot" isn't inherently a worse way to store data than a "file system with hierarchy".
We are just used to one way and the other baffles us because it goes against our way of thinking about 0s and 1s scattered on silicon.
Well TBH I'm STILL waiting for a nice tag-based file system where I can just throw all my files in my bin and filter by tags, potentially more than one at a time.
Looks like there are tags available on MacOS and Windows.
https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/tag-files-and-folders-mchlp15236/mac
Didn't find official windows article on this, but plenty of other news outlet reported on this.
Nested folders are reliable and predictable.
Tagging is also a good option.
Relying on search that is likely to fail in predictable ways is an awful way to do anything serious. And therein lies the problem... These people have mostly never done serious work with a computer before, that other people rely on. As soon as someone else stands to lose money or fail a class because you can't find a file, the distinction will come into sharp focus.
The problem is the laundry basket is not one laundry basket, but a series of subtly different ones that are all poorly implemented leaky abstractions layered on top of files.