I can say that burp gold as well, it doesn't make it true. Which is the point I'm making, Mr. SmartyPants (notice, I keep kid-friendly)

Not sure if you are talking to me; in that case, quoting me might make things more clear.

Either way, I wasnt addressing you, but the OP; I merely used your comment as a stepping stone. I suppose that would put us at a draw with regard to lack of clarity, and/or abuse of quoting conventions.

Ah, I see. Misunderstanding. Carry on.

You sound average. Most people that know programming don't take the beginner classes. I took a 500 level class my freshman year after talking with a professor. Most universities let you replace it with another class. Talk to your advisors.

These people don't even know what computer programming is and their inability to grasp simple concepts like if statements is mind baffling to me.

I would consider that your weakness, not theirs.

Man, there hasn't been a thread this hilarious in a long time. Seriously, SteveDeFacto calling someone else stupid? Unbelievable.

Yeah, something definately wrong here. You are 23 year old, been programming for several years, and now you're starting in kindergarten.

Either talk to a professor for a higher level course (which you probably can't or won't do now), or as adviced: take the learning experience of helping others learn.

You say someone doesn't understand if-then constructs, but you don't go further. If they are really incapable of getting it, then why are they even enrolled in a programming class? What is specifically that they have trouble with? Maybe try psudo code.

Computer Scientists often speak very abstract about something very precise, and vice verca, and they seem to use many everyday words as domain language in not exactly intuitive or explicit ways. So people get very confused about simple stuff, but mostly this is a step of learning. People learn differently, and there are good and bad teachers (including those that taught themselves.)

I think the true number of people that simply won't get something like if-then is around 10%. That the rest would become expert programmers is another thing. But you can't generally tell who is going to be the productive one, until you give them a chance to "get it". Difficulties can arise though, when the topic is not found interesting or "needed". But that is often a sign of immaturity or indeed a mistaken choice in education.

Man, there hasn't been a thread this hilarious in a long time. Seriously, SteveDeFacto calling someone else stupid? Unbelievable.

You're not being fair. SteveDeFacto lounge threads are often based around the stupidity or inadequacies of something else.

Am I the only one who feels this way or is this normal?

It is sadly common. Nerds go through high school fighting against the teasing and bullying for being nerds and they hold onto that intellectual elitism. By college it is full blown, espcially once they realise that even stupid people go to college. It becomes angry and resentful for 4-6 years after college once they realise that those stupid people are their bosses. Then they get around to gaining some modicum of social skills and grow out of it (mostly).

All that said, it's still wrong. It's still a shield from normal, healthy human interaction. And you have only yourself to blame for going to a school that isn't even vaguely challenging you.

As others have said, what you do about it is up to you. You can create your own challenges, or you can spend your time working through the elitism issues that cause you to piss off even the other elitists of the forums. But at least you are aware of the problem...

http://www.gamedev.n...ted-with--in-c/

(Ok, not the best example perhaps, i'm not sure what posts phantom were refering to and my google skills are quite weak)

That post is neither recent nor is it stupid. It was a C++ specific syntax question. There is no documentation which specifically explains what I was looking for and searching google for "c++ store array of floats in one line" returns no useful results. I have been programming for the last 16 years and only 3 of those years have been with C++. There is absolutely no way I could have come to the right answer through logic...

[quote name='SimonForsman' timestamp='1329763548' post='4914897']
http://www.gamedev.n...ted-with--in-c/

(Ok, not the best example perhaps, i'm not sure what posts phantom were refering to and my google skills are quite weak)

That post is neither recent nor is it stupid. It was a C++ specific syntax question. There is no documentation which specifically explains what I was looking for and searching google for "c++ store array of floats in one line" returns no useful results. I have been programming for the last 16 years and only 3 of those years have been with C++. There is absolutely no way I could have come to the right answer through logic...
[/quote]

And I'm sure the person who thought Booleans had something to do with antivirus software had a much better excuse than this. "C++ store array of floats in one line" is a stupid search string. Even so, the second result answers your question and suggests you read the section on pointers which answers most of your follow-up questions.

If you've been programming for 16 years, then the best thing I can say is that you're confusing interest with aptitude. The people in your class who have spent most of their lives doing things that are not programming mightt take a bit longer to pick up basic concepts than someone who started much earlier. But even so, if they keep at it for 16 years, the idea that your skills are so great that none of them will catch up seems more and more delusional the more you post about it.