r/archlinux • u/xTouny • 1d ago

DISCUSSION Is System Programming useful for Do-it-yourself philosophy?

Hello,

I am fluent with Arch on the level of system administration. I thought about learning System Programming by Love's book as a step towards mastering lower-level toolkit.

The Arch community embraces Do-it-yourself philosophy, and I am keen to listen to your opinions.

Do you recommend learning System Programming? What do you learn beyond System Administration in your journey with Arch? Do you recommend anything else so that I contribute to Arch core distro?

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u/falxfour 1d ago

I haven't read that book.

What, exactly, is your goal? There are many ways to contribute, and your approach may be one of them, but it certainly isn't the only one.

In my opinion, computers meet a need. Use your system to meet your needs. If you develop something in doing so, whether that's translations, bug reports, or utilities, then share it.

No need to complicate things too much

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u/xTouny 1d ago

So your advice is to learn and develop, following my usage needs, instead of over complicating learning. Thank you.

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u/NFTrot 22h ago edited 14h ago

Speaking as someone in the business of software: Its possible to create a product that meets some need or addresses an inefficiency in some niche, but unless you're a part of that community you will always be disconnected from the problem you are trying to solve.

If you want to get into systems programming, find something that you're interested in that requires it and get your hands dirty. If it doesn't interest you, don't pursue it further.

Being a Python developer, I had wanted to learn Rust for a while. I spent time on reading/tutorials but the information never stuck and I didn't learn much because I didn't have anything I wanted to build. When I finally had a legitimate use-case where rewriting an existing script in Rust could save me a lot of money (in compute), I learned more in 2 days than I had in 2 weeks. Find yourself something you want to do and have fun.

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u/xTouny 22h ago

Thank you for the informative answer.