Prior to the internet and probably up until around 2001 or so, the four main sources of programming information were books, CD-ROMs, BBS's and message boards on paid services like Compuserve. You could get a lot of in depth information from these sources, but it was expensive. It wasn't unusual to spend $50 or more on a book/CD-ROM combo or to spend more than $100 a month on long distance calls and Compuserve/AOL/GEnie subscriptions.
Other than the cost, the big difference now is in the width of information. If you need to know the answer to a very specific question, it is likely that someone has asked it and posted an answer somewhere online. In the old days, once you got off the beaten path, you had to figure out a lot on your own.
What was life before and after Google search? How much programming has changed after Google, stackoverflow etc?
Prior to the internet and probably up until around 2001 or so, the four main sources of programming information were books, CD-ROMs, BBS's and message boards on paid services like Compuserve. You could get a lot of in depth information from these sources, but it was expensive. It wasn't unusual to spend $50 or more on a book/CD-ROM combo or to spend more than $100 a month on long distance calls and Compuserve/AOL/GEnie subscriptions.
Other than the cost, the big difference now is in the width of information. If you need to know the answer to a very specific question, it is likely that someone has asked it and posted an answer somewhere online. In the old days, once you got off the beaten path, you had to figure out a lot on your own.
What Frank said. :)