February 10, 2026
Press F for CONFIG.SYS
I started programming when I was 7. I'm 50 now and the thing I loved has changed
From kid coder to ad machine: nostalgia vs “AI stole my craft”
TLDR: A longtime programmer mourns how computers went from hands-on tinkering to polished, ad-driven platforms. Comments split between nostalgia, accusations of AI-written hypocrisy, and a brawl over whether AI is just more convenience or a seismic shift—while some say these tools finally make the boring parts fun again.
A veteran coder pours his heart out about how computers went from quirky puzzles to slick appliances—and the internet lit up. Old-school fans cheered the memories of fiddling with boot files and sound chips, calling the 80s–90s the era when “getting the game to run WAS the game.” One commenter even dropped a link to an ancient Mac debugger (jasik.com) like a relic in a digital museum. The vibe: press F for CONFIG.SYS.
But the comments exploded over one word the author tried to avoid: AI. One camp says change is constant—17, 27, 37, it always shifts—but admits this leap feels “uniquely different.” Another camp throws haymakers: a top reply accuses the author of hypocrisy, claiming posts like this are “obviously written with AI” while lamenting AI’s impact. On the flip side, some folks confess they’ve lost the thrill and that AI chat tools brought the buzz back by killing the boring parts.
The fiercest fight? Whether AI is just “more abstraction” or a total break from how making things works. A blunt rebuttal: “AI isn’t incremental.” Cue memes about “boomer devs” vs “prompt wizards,” and nostalgic quips about fixing IRQ conflicts as a rite of passage. The community is torn between mourning the craft, embracing the convenience, and side-eyeing anyone who dares to write about it without showing their prompt history.
Key Points
- •The author began programming in 1983 using BASIC on an 8-bit machine and had a direct, transparent understanding of hardware and software outputs.
- •He describes an era from 8-bit systems to the 486DX2-66 where hardware constraints (e.g., Spectrum, C64, NES) drove creative technical solutions and visible tradeoffs.
- •Small teams like id Software pioneered techniques (e.g., Carmack’s raycasting, VGA Mode X in Doom) under real constraints, producing novel results.
- •Computing later professionalized, with Plug and Play and Windows abstracting hardware, making computers more appliance-like and the craft less visible.
- •Across decades, the author adapted through major shifts (CLI to GUI, desktop to web, web to mobile, monoliths to microservices, and storage evolutions), maintaining transferable core system skills.