The inventor of copy and paste, who put many people out of work, dies. In the cold winter of the Internet, what should programmers who only know how to copy and paste do?

##She has achieved more than 90% of programmers

At the beginning of December, an old man passed away quietly at the age of 93. Her name is Evelyn Berezin. He is the inventor of the copy-paste function.

Evelyn Berezin, who graduated from the Department of Physics, worked in a typewriter company. From 1951 to 1969, she worked as a computer system designer for many companies. One of his most influential achievements in the world today is to design a passenger ticket reservation system for United Airlines, which serves 60 cities across the United States. It only takes one second to display search results. The system has been running for 11 years without any problems. Fault record.

In 2006, Evelyn Berezin was inducted into the Long Island Technology Hall of Fame. In 2015, she was appointed a researcher at the Computer History Museum. In 2011, she was inducted into the Los Angeles Women in Technology Hall of Fame. (Women Technology Hall of Fame).

But Evelin is low-key. She grew her company, Redactron, from 9 employees to nearly 500 people. She was selected as one of the outstanding leaders in the United States, but she did not often appear in the public eye. She suffered from lymphoma in her old age, but she chose to give up treatment and would rather spend her last days with her family. She passed away on December 8 at the age of 93.

A large number of netizens mourned Evelin online. Some netizens said that it was quite remarkable that women could engage in computer design work at that time. "It's really great that you can think of this." concept"; some netizens said that she is "the savior of college students around the world", "the reborn parent of journalists", "the enemy of secretaries, one person ended an industry".

Many programmers said: "

She has made eighty or ninety percent of programmers successful. "

Just imagine, modern people use mobile phones every day Computer, what would happen to your work if you didn't have the "copy and paste" function on your computer? What will your life be like?

The programmer’s right-hand man

For programmers, the two most familiar, most proficient, and most commonly used What are the two shortcut keys?

Yes, it’s what you’re thinking about now: ctrl c and ctrl v, commonly known as: copy and paste.

For many programmers:

The code in the world is nothing but "copy".

This meme is actually quite realistic, but you have to say that it is quite targeted.

Just like those jokes on the Internet:

0. "We don't produce code, we are github porters"

1. You have nothing to say about my abilities. Know!

2. Programmer: "No way, that's what the product manager thinks: I want to do the same as XX!"

3. Programmers who can meet needs are good programmers. As for whether you copied and pasted it? The manager won't care!

4. Copy and use it rationally... This is an ability in itself...

5. There was a programmer who wrote code seriously every day. Later, he died suddenly...

For most programmers, copying and pasting are their right and left arms in creating great products.

And this great function was invented by that great woman 50 years ago.

Her invention made many people unemployed at the time

50 years ago, if two copies of the same document were needed, A typist can only repeat two copies with a typewriter, and if a word is entered incorrectly in an important document, it must be rewritten from beginning to end, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive.

In 1969, Evelyn Berezin invented the first computerized word processor in history that could edit, delete, cut and paste text, and named it "Data" secretary". Since then, people no longer only have typewriter-like input. You know, the world's first recognized personal computer was born in 1971.

Evelyn was born in 1925 and graduated from the Department of Physics of New York University. After graduation, she joined several companies and was engaged in designing computer systems. In the early days of computer development, few women participated in research, but Evelyn not only designed the first true word processor, but also founded a personal technology company specializing in manufacturing and selling machines with revolutionary technology.

Evelyn founded the company Redactron Corporation and sold the first word processor in 1971, named "Data Secretary".

Although the word processor produced by Redactron is as big as a small refrigerator, has no screen, is slow and noisy, it can edit, delete, cut and paste. The above text was very convenient for that era.

50 years ago, it was Evelyn who invented this word processor, which freed secretaries from the boring and repetitive typing work. It made a great contribution to the early development of computers. At the same time, she is also known as the savior of writing work. It can be said to be the originator of Google Docs and Microsoft Word.

At that time, secretarial positions accounted for 6% of the U.S. workforce. However, after the invention of this machine, secretaries no longer had to retype documents with incorrect contents, let alone retype them several times because they needed several copies. They could simply modify and reprint them easily, completely overturning the work of secretaries at that time.

As a result, the glorious profession of typist has become increasingly withered.

In 2017, Evelyn pointed out in an interview that she never thought that word processors would cause women to lose their jobs and kill many people with secretarial skills. woman. Only some people believe that computerized word processors have freed many women from the boring and monotonous typing work, making secretarial work less important. On the contrary, it has given women the opportunity to advance into administrative or management positions, which is beneficial to women. Gains and losses.

Coders and Winter

Many programmers like to claim that they are "coders".

Because programmers laugh at themselves: what they do is the hard work of "moving bricks" like migrant workers; the commonly used tools are "Ctrl C" and "Ctrl V"; what they do is also "moving others" You can also make a lot of money by copying the code and using it.” Therefore, according to this statement, some programmers really should thank Evelyn Berezin.

Of course, it is impossible to simply copy the code, but you need to know the implementation principles. Many people do not simply copy. As many people say, Copying code is worth 1 yuan, knowing what to copy is worth 19,999 yuan.

So, the problem is not whether the code was copied or not. The problem is that he knows what code should be copied, which code, how to integrate it after copying, and can also solve the problem. Only then is the point.

#There is a saying in the industry: Programmers who are not lazy cannot be successful programmers.

Yes, why not use it if there is something ready-made?

There is a saying in development that "don't build your own wheel". As long as there is an implementation of this function on the market, try to use other people's code. The code written by others is no worse than yours. There are also codes on github. There are many excellent programmers working together to help optimize.

If you rewrite it yourself, it is often a waste of time, and your writing may not necessarily be better than others. So many times, as long as there is something ready-made, most people will choose not to write it themselves.

For example, regular expressions for verifying email and mobile phone numbers, some highly reusable functions of js, and communication with third-party platforms all have their own mature codes. You can just copy and paste them. Writing it yourself will cause loopholes. All kinds of things.

There are also some mature semi-finished products, such as some CMS content management systems, or CRM, malls, and forums. If the business the company needs is not customized, then download it directly and slightly change the interface and logo. It can be used directly. These have been tested and verified, and there are many plug-ins. There is no need to waste time and energy on current development.

This kind of appropriationism is becoming more and more popular, which may be the reason why many programmers are becoming less and less willing to think.

Moreover, in some companies, the requirements for programmers are not high: as long as you can copy the code and know where to copy the code, the code will actually run in the end! This is the real skill, I don’t care if you copy it or not!

In small companies, some code may be rewritten, but in large companies, copying code is more common. Because the underlying framework has been laid out for a long time, different businesses can be implemented based on this architecture. The business scenarios of large companies are complex, and it is impossible to implement all functions with one set of code.

For example, for a simple function, just find one on the Internet and do secondary encapsulation on it. The rest of the work is basically physical work. Others call this module and generate it according to the corresponding rules. Just copy and paste, you just need to change the parameter name or number.

This leads to the view of some laymen that programming is just a simple copy and paste.

#But in fact, code has a soul.

As an old Huawei programmer said:

"Engaging in coding can exercise your logical thinking ability and teach you how to think. Just like studying law, studying law Not all people want to become lawyers, but law teaches you a way of thinking. Similarly, through coding, you can learn the most rigorous thinking method in the world. Because in the world of coding, right and wrong are simple and even absolute. , as long as you hit the keyboard, the computer will determine what is right or wrong, 0 or 1. The rules are simple and effective, rough but perfect.

Engaging in coding can lead to continuous creativity. Just like writing, painting, and composing , coding is also a kind of creative work. As long as you have a computer and master the basic skills, you will have unlimited superpowers, and you can create new things at will, enriching and beautiful the world, isn't it great?

What’s even cooler is that coding can taste loneliness. In addition to communicating and learning with others, programmers work alone most of the time. As long as their hands touch the keyboard, their hearts will instantly become peaceful. How cool. Yeah! Accompanied by the crisp murmur of the keyboard, immersing yourself in a person's world, and savoring loneliness while listening to the patter of rain with a cup of tea in the misty rainy sky, it's almost the same but has the same purpose but the same purpose. How sentimental!

Most people who can choose coding as a job are people who like to live in a simple way: these people have innocent curiosity, although they are unsmiling, they are passionate, good at sharing, willing to help others, and even Sometimes in order to solve problems, I would rather stay up all night, but I feel happy... With such a group of simple and pure people, I feel that the best working atmosphere in the world is just that."

However, many times, many young programmers, because of the temptation of various factors, become distracted and not focused enough. And because they are not focused enough, they do not care about doing their own jobs well or tempering their skills. , don’t care about learning emerging technologies. Gradually, they will think that there is no way out for coding, and then, without exception, they will regard programming as manual labor. They will only paste and copy code, knowing it but not knowing why, leading to technological stagnation.

And most people will work in this state for 5 or 10 years... They live an indistinguishable life day after day. To truly achieve the position of programmer is to become a programmer who thrives on youth.

#In 2018, many Internet companies ushered in an unprecedented "cold winter". Many major Internet companies have reduced the number of people they recruit, and have also carried out "structural optimization" of redundant personnel in the company. Many people made inexplicable and clever complaints: was still working in the morning, but received a layoff notice in the afternoon.

A very successful programmer in the Internet industry once said a set of ABC theory of work:

He said that he is currently working as a programmer and earning a fixed salary. It’s A. This can ensure that you won’t starve to death and your family’s life is guaranteed;

I will use a certain amount of time to work part-time in a training institution on weekends. This is B;

Being able to have extra income, even if it is not as much as salary, can still provide a guarantee for his career, and then he will also learn management and product knowledge. This is C.

Those who can sit firmly on Diaoyutai even in the face of the cold winter of the Internet are basically C-type characters.

Do you still remember those glorious typists and secretaries before Evelin invented that machine?

Technology is always innovating forward, and history has proven that the easier you are to be replaced, the easier it is to be eliminated.

#In the cold "Internet winter", the first people to be told to go home and rest are often the low-level heavy manual workers who can only move bricks.