The_root_of_all_evil:

RAKtheUndead:

The_root_of_all_evil:
Dude, I've had to deal with places that run Win 95, FORTRAN and CLI interfaces. Pascal and Modula-2 are quite good for getting the basics before you upgrade to OOP.

I repeat my previous statement:

http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/real.programmers.html

Heh, my gf quotes me that at times. I still say you've got to know how to structure before you introduce the true art of spaghetti programming. And starting programmers with FORTRAN would be far too evil, even for me.

"If builders built buildings the way the programmers write programs, the first woodpecker would destroy civilisation."

Actually, I agree. But I'm hardly a programmer - I managed to learn some BASIC, before trying to pick up C++. I'm still in the process of trying to learn how to program in that, and I doubt I'll be picking up FORTRAN for anything serious in the foreseeable future.

Regardless, I still feel that way about Pascal.

wait did u say other then WOW that odd i get the opposite resonse for playing wow although i will play most other games but everyone that knows me knows i'm not a geek because geeks are considered to be smart and i'm an average student at best.

Carter06:
wait did u say other then WOW that odd i get the opposite resonse for playing wow although i will play most other games but everyone that knows me knows i'm not a geek because geeks are considered to be smart and i'm an average student at best.

Yeah, people who play WoW aren't too bright. Just kidding, it's just mainly people who talk about games and computers outside a classroom/gaming environment that are usually classed as nerds by the general public.

Vortigar:
Gitsnik:
Can you really engage in a conversation like this and say you're not a geek with a straight face? This kind if talk is the very definition of the word for most people.

Touche.

Yep, but only because I'm a geek 8 hours of the day, when I finish work most days it gets turned off for pub crawls and late nights.

In my experience, most people who play games are fucking morons. At least in media-saturated urban areas, video games are the new cool, but only if you play certain ones and only in certain company (i.e. Rock Band while drunk off your ass). The fact of the matter is, people throw around words like "hardcore" and stuff, yet the vast majority of people buying these triple-A hardcore games like Guitar Hero, Halo and Call of Duty aren't really hardcore gamers at all. When I start talking about S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Crysis, Mass Effect, even Half-Life, 99% of the "gamers" have no clue what the hell I'm talking about.

The limit of my computer knowledge is actually quite fitting considering I'm a gamer.

I know how to blow everything up and start all over again.

everything else I have no idea.

I'm a gamer, and I will talk about games a lot with my friends at school. Most of my friends are gamers, I wouldn't say I'm the best, I would say I'm an average gamer at that. And I've always been called a "nerd" or a geek" because I play games. I use to care about it, but now I just don't give to shits.

And yea I also get asked to help with computers a lot, I'm not much help because I don't know much, but I am taking computer classes in high school right now. But as of it now, I'm not much help at all.

And it's always nice to meet a new gamer.
But most of the new gamers I meet just say they like Final Fantasy.
That kind of annoys me, I can't carry on conversations with them because that's all they play. And I, personally, can't stand the FF series, some games were decent, but it's been going on to long. Just end it.
But other then that, meeting new gamers is nice, one of the main reasons I joined The Escapist.

I said it's a good starting point (because it's relatively simple). Just to get a whole feel for the whole programming thing. I did not say that you'll have actually have to use it in the industry.

PurpleRain:
Yeah, I tend to get put into the "He plays games, he must know heaps about computers," catagory alot. I know jack about computers. Hardware goes inside the PC, software is discs and stuff. And that's still techno babble to me.

Larenxis:
Person who plays some games: "Oh cool! What do you play? The Sims? Final Fantasy?" (gender profiling)(I really hate FF)

Thank god someone said it.

I was talking to this girl and found out she liked games:
"Cool, so what type of games do you like?"
"Oh I like Final Fantasy..."
"Oh. Ok then."

Sort of the opposite of what you said, but this time I had your reaction. I thought I was reaching out to someone only to get stabbed.

Yes girls are such strange creatures. You better not get near or else you'll get stabbed again...

I know very few gamegirls than do NOT like FF ^^

OT: would it be accurate to say that PC gamers have a higher change to know about computers and console gamers to be computer nitwits too?

DeathSnipa1992:
that was a good point. some gamers just arent smart enough to be a nerd. All they really know is how to win in a certain game or two, and know nothing else about technology.

rite, here's one for ya'll: What's the difference between a Nerd and a Geek?

I've met plenty of pretty hardcore gamers (most in fact) that aren't top of the class and don't know much about computer technology

They keep coming to me for advice and help on both topics :P

ok in my computer class(which is an eleective) today i asked how many people considered themselves hardcore gamers. Over half said they were. but only a few could actually be described as nerd. i think this is just a broad generalization that really has no merit in society.

EDIT:i forgot
according to google a nerd is "A person with limited social, but advanced technological skills and interests."
Geek-Used in a nice way it is someone who seems to know everything there is to know about computers. Geeks tend to spend every possdible waking minute glued to their computer.

tobyornottoby:

PurpleRain:
Yeah, I tend to get put into the "He plays games, he must know heaps about computers," catagory alot. I know jack about computers. Hardware goes inside the PC, software is discs and stuff. And that's still techno babble to me.

Larenxis:
Person who plays some games: "Oh cool! What do you play? The Sims? Final Fantasy?" (gender profiling)(I really hate FF)

Thank god someone said it.

I was talking to this girl and found out she liked games:
"Cool, so what type of games do you like?"
"Oh I like Final Fantasy..."
"Oh. Ok then."

Sort of the opposite of what you said, but this time I had your reaction. I thought I was reaching out to someone only to get stabbed.

Yes girls are such strange creatures. You better not get near or else you'll get stabbed again...

I know very few gamegirls than do NOT like FF ^^

No, that's not my point at all. It didn't have anything to do with gender, I was just disapointed that she liked FF, when I could of had striked up a good conversation about Half Life, Bioshock or something. Again, not saying I was disapointed in her, just I have no care for FF and failed to make a conversation about it.

I know I have picture box, and this keyboard thingymajig is somehow connected to it. I blame wizards.

i know a fair bit about computers. and a fair bit about video games. there is a connection, but then im a PC not a console.(though i lack knoledge of programming languages and little experience in hardware assembly for economic reasons)

I work in IT, but the rest of the staff refer to us as cool geeks. They are very conscious of the difference between geek and nerd.

You're making it sound like being a nerd is a bad thing. Geez, shouldn't we all be nerdfighters around here? Fight for the right to be a nerd without prejudice!

http://nerdfighters.ning.com/

The nerd/geek terminology argument becomes simple once you remove the usual stigma: geek implies skill, nerd implies passion. So I am a nerd about many things, but I can't be considered a gamer geek on account of while I enjoy many, I have little skill in any.

Geek implies brains or skill
Nerd implies lack of social skills.

That's how the world sees it.

Faultty:
You're making it sound like being a nerd is a bad thing. Geez, shouldn't we all be nerdfighters around here? Fight for the right to be a nerd without prejudice!

It's not a bad thing at all, but that doesn't stop most people from still perceiving it as such. Since I spend so much time online, sometimes I find that people in reality are much different (i.e. worse) than those I know over the Internet; sometimes it can be hard to remember that talking about your new CPU heatsink or your Aquamark score isn't cool. Yesterday, an acquaintance/friend of mine (not sure which it is, really) mentioned that she wanted to quit smoking, and needed motivation; my response was all the money that would be saved from quitting could be used to buy awesome new PC hardware. I'm pretty sure she didn't speak to me for the rest of the day after that.

I am an avid gamer and I know enough to get by with computers.

I'm not sure how but I'm getting married to a very hot girl later this year who has no interest in gaming or computers but loves fashion and clubbing.

Apparently I am what is called 'Geek-Chic'. For the first time in my life I'm actually trendy!

I'm an average gamer but since I got into gaming I discovered I love computers and as such I have learned a lot about how they work. I can fix a lot of computer problems and do some programming but I'm really better with networks. HeHe I guess I do fit that stereotype.

On a different note:

The_root_of_all_evil:
Dude, I've had to deal with places that run Win 95, FORTRAN and CLI interfaces. Pascal and Modula-2 are quite good for getting the basics before you upgrade to OOP.

You guys worked your way up to OOP? My school started with Java, all any of us knows is OOP.

I'm a UI guy. If that doesn't make any sense to you, I can learn how to use almost any program, 20x faster then you can.

I can play, 20 games in a day, and switch between 20 different control schemes with out having to wrap my brain around how each of them work, or exam the 'manual' to remember. I can just load it up and play the game like I've been playing it all week.

Sometimes though, it may take me a few minutes (upwards of 5) to exactly remember every fine detail point of the control scheme, or how the UI works. Buts its like riding a biscycle. Even after 20 years of not riding a bike, once you hop on it, you remember the fundementals, and the first few pushes on the pedals will be a bit akward, but after, you'll ride like a pro again.

Then approximately 4 years ago, I installed my first Video Card.
Then my first Ram.
3 years ago, I desemebled my pc, to send my motherboard in for an RMA.
Had a friend who built the pc orginally come over and put it back together.
This summer I finally built my first computer.

To be technical, my first 'build' was just re-esembling a pc after replacing a bad mobo.
Then I technically assembled my first computer, the one I'm using now.
Q6600 2.4ghz
Geforce 9800 GTX
PC 6400 Memory
2 300 GB HDDs, and who gives a frag at what speed.
Crossair 750W PSU
And a bunch of other accessories.

Originally at $600 (Dell would have charged you somewhere around $2400 for this build at around June, I know, I tried building it through dell but my credit wasn't good enough!! So I put all the parts I needed on my credit card and paid it all off in under a month. ;) )

The price jumped from $600 though when I had to invest in a new PSU (Got a bad one, to tiny for the video card, EVERYONE missed that thing, cause you always, always ask around when its your 'first time' if 'this part' will work with 'that part', ect. Its called research people! If you don't know how to rebuild an engine, don't just start throwing pieces together and try to mash em together with ducttape if they dont' fit! ;))

AS for basic computer problems, 99% of all problems you have on your PC, are spyware related, and 99% of the time, someones already had the same problem you have had. A quick 'google' of your problem often yields a solution.
If more people would actually RESEARCH there problem before turning of there brain and hitting there pc with a wrench because its to powerful for there monkey brains to handle, We'd have sooo much less whining going on!

As for cars. I suck at cars. About all I can do is change tires, change oil, check oil, you know the basic fluids that are at the top of the engine unless you have one of those cars that hides all that shit in really wierd places, or like my parents car, where you have to take half of it apart to put new fluid in...

PurpleRain:

tobyornottoby:

PurpleRain:
Yeah, I tend to get put into the "He plays games, he must know heaps about computers," catagory alot. I know jack about computers. Hardware goes inside the PC, software is discs and stuff. And that's still techno babble to me.

Larenxis:
Person who plays some games: "Oh cool! What do you play? The Sims? Final Fantasy?" (gender profiling)(I really hate FF)

Thank god someone said it.

I was talking to this girl and found out she liked games:
"Cool, so what type of games do you like?"
"Oh I like Final Fantasy..."
"Oh. Ok then."

Sort of the opposite of what you said, but this time I had your reaction. I thought I was reaching out to someone only to get stabbed.

Yes girls are such strange creatures. You better not get near or else you'll get stabbed again...

I know very few gamegirls than do NOT like FF ^^

No, that's not my point at all. It didn't have anything to do with gender, I was just disapointed that she liked FF, when I could of had striked up a good conversation about Half Life, Bioshock or something. Again, not saying I was disapointed in her, just I have no care for FF and failed to make a conversation about it.

Aaah alright, but I think the chance 'FF' is answered when you ask a newly met gamegirl is pretty high ^^;

I think it also depends on what kinds of games you've played for the majority of your life... Personally, I started a console only gamer, and then evolved to PC & console gaming... The more console gaming you do, the more you tend to learn about your computer system as a whole, its capabilities, and if it can run the games you want it to... No offense to anyone who does play PC games and isn't too knowledgable on PCs, but I really think it comes down to a passion thing...

Considering that I don't even know how to work Microsoft Excel or work a Linksys wireless network, no.

This is a classic error. Gamer geek and nerd are two completely different things. It is possible to be both (I actually happen to be, lol) but you can be one or the other. I have several "nerd" friends who wouldn't touch a game-pad with a ten-foot stick (not good friends, as you can imagine...)

PurpleRain:
Yeah, I tend to get put into the "He plays games, he must know heaps about computers," catagory alot. I know jack about computers. Hardware goes inside the PC, software is discs and stuff. And that's still techno babble to me.

Larenxis:
Person who plays some games: "Oh cool! What do you play? The Sims? Final Fantasy?" (gender profiling)(I really hate FF)

Thank god someone said it.

I was talking to this girl and found out she liked games:
"Cool, so what type of games do you like?"
"Oh I like Final Fantasy..."
"Oh. Ok then."

Sort of the opposite of what you said, but this time I had your reaction. I thought I was reaching out to someone only to get stabbed.

That's just cruel. XD I play FF AND Halo 3...what does that say about me? XD There's nothing wrong with FF...really.

As a PC gamer, you'll end up with tweaking your system sooner or later. It starts off with patches, then drivers, then .ini file edits. Before you know it you're looking into videocards to put into your system to be able to play that next game.

2 years later you're building your own rig.

That's how it went with me, anyway. If your interest is more 'tech' then 'games' it's a natural progression.

Technomage333:
I'm an average gamer but since I got into gaming I discovered I love computers and as such I have learned a lot about how they work.

This.

My big brother, who has been gaming for about 10 years longer than I am, doesn't share my passion for computers, though. He knows less about them my parents do these days, he's just that uninterested in the specifics.

Originally my motivation to figure out programming was to make games, but I found out that studying things like cryptography is just as interesting as interesting as gaming. Our university started us with C, then we went from there to C++ and Java. These days if I code for my leisure, I do it mostly in Python. I've also dabbled in CLisp and Haskell a bit.

I sort of embraced the fact that I was a nerd over 10 years ago, so yeah.

99% of the time, someones already had the same problem you have had. A quick 'google' of your problem often yields a solution.

This is also very true.

Mmm i know a fair amount about computers and such, enough to get me by and troubleshoot if things go haywire.....and i LOVE gaming. Dunno if the two go hand in hand generally but i have a certain finesse with both.

Sir_Montague:
I think it also depends on what kinds of games you've played for the majority of your life... Personally, I started a console only gamer, and then evolved to PC & console gaming... The more console gaming you do, the more you tend to learn about your computer system as a whole, its capabilities, and if it can run the games you want it to... No offense to anyone who does play PC games and isn't too knowledgable on PCs, but I really think it comes down to a passion thing...

I actually go to local LAN where probably the UKs #1 gamer plays. He knows absolutely nothing about the internals of his computer.

Maybe old school gamers... Up until the mid 90's it was very frustrating at times to get games to work with your hardware... Then 3Dfx, ATI, Rendition (well dont give rendition too much credit; pain to work with) came along and made things easier for setting up. Oh and the advent of workable OpenGL/DX. I remember writing command line things to get privateer to work when I was young which prompted me to learn more about computers. I think the definition of a computer nerd would usually include him as a gamer (but not always so w/ freebsd/linux geeks.)

Good God no.

I fail to see why people get this idea, maybe if they read a system wars thread once in a while they'd realise that a great deal of internet savvy "gamers" are as intelligent as a brick wall when it comes to technology.