July 2, 2010

Your Future Programming Career

Filed under: Main — Tags: — admin @ 12:01 am

The computer industry isn’t dead, it’s just that the target machines are getting much smaller.

If you want to boost your career as a programmer, or you’re willing to start up your own “garage-based” business and become the next gazillionaire, then I have good news for you: The mobile device market is set to explode.

People are viewing their cell phones, and portable gizmos like the iPad and its copycats-to-come, as their new computers. Truly, for most people the phone and computer have merged.

In fact, I envision a future where lots of people eschew (your Wambooli Word Of The Day) desktop computers because their phone is about to do everything that the PC once did.

I’m serious.

To capitalize on this revolution, you can be one of the future millionaires who write programs for the gizmos. It’s not that difficult.

Even if you don’t already know a programming language, you can learn one. For the Android market, you learn the popular and versatile Java language. For the iPhone, it’s Objective C based on the C programming language. (Books conveniently found here.)

After a few weeks learning the ropes, plus some training with the SDK, you can be writing some simple phone programs. Give them away. Then, as you hone your skills, do more complex things.

Ideas?

You don’t need any stinkin’ ideas! Sure, if you have an idea for the next killer phone app, go for it. Otherwise, inspire yourself with the crap that’s already out there. Do better.

Doing better is exactly what I did when I wrote DOS For Dummies. At the time, there were plenty (too many) beginner books. All of them sucked. I wrote a better book. Made a mint. You can do the same with computer software.

I’m serious: There is a tremendous opportunity right now to start up a small software business in the growing cell phone app market. Even if you don’t want to make your own software, being familiar with programming any of the various cell phone operating systems will doubtless land you a high-paying job at a software company somewhere.

This type of revolution comes along rarely in the computer industry. The last time I saw this much opportunity was in the 1980s and early 1990s. Lots of folks rode that wave.

Especially with the economy as stupid as it is these days, if you can’t rely on someone else for work, make it yourself. It could lead to wondrous things.

4 Comments

  1. haHA! I knew buying C++ for Dummies years ago would be a good investment! I agree with you that the mobile device market is going to explode, but you can’t deny that there are some things that a mobile device won’t be able to do any time soon. Like run the new Adobe suite, or play 3d games, a breakthrough like that is a ways away. That is the reason I think desktops will still be around for a while.

    Comment by gamerguy473 — July 2, 2010 @ 7:00 am

  2. I agree, desktops aren’t going away, but for the broader market they will. Those people who bought all the Internet PCs ten years ago — where the PC was given away “free” with an Internet subscription — they would be happier with just a smart phone that does email and the web. The deal is, I don’t believe that those people buy new desktops (or laptops) anyway.

    The real impact is going to be on the netbooks. I think that they will die and be replaced by the next generation of cell phones, which will be coming with larger (4+inches) screens.

    Comment by admin — July 2, 2010 @ 7:47 am

  3. Dan, it seems that C/C++ and Java/C# are the only games in town for programming. Im wondering if you ever tried PL/I back in the day? Im surprised no one uses PL/I anymore because it looks just as fast and powerful as C, I cant figure out why people would prefer Basic or Python over it.

    Comment by BradC — July 6, 2010 @ 11:55 am

  4. Back in the day (say, the 1980s) PL/1 was a mainframe language, like Ada or Lisp. There were versions you could get for microcomputers, but PL/1 wasn’t as popular as the main languages of that time period: BASIC, Pascal, Forth, Prolog, and Assembly. Fortran was also popular, but not widely implemented on PCs.

    I’ve never used PL/1. I had a programmer friend in the church I attended who said I would enjoy it. He was the first to correct me that it’s pee el one and not pee el eye.

    According to the Wikipedia, PL/1 still has an active user base. I suppose it’s just not hip enough for the bearded programmer set.

    Comment by admin — July 6, 2010 @ 12:21 pm

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