Core Matlab/Octave is great but almost inevitably you end up needing/wanting toolbox support. For Matlab the cost gets up there quite fast. I've found for Octave, support at the toolbox level is not as extensive. If Matlab is not an option it leads to searching for support in other languages. OpenCV for image processing/understanding and the python libs as mentioned become important for example. But development cycle time is longer and prototyping algorithms is a bit more complicated.
Its been a while since I've worked with Octave toolboxes but it would be great if they were on par with Matlab.
Performance is less of an issue with prototyping than production systems and Matlab has a path to get to compiled C/C++ (Java and perhaps other?) Is there Octave support for generating reasonably performant C++ or Java?
Don't forget to account for the cost of raising a family in the areas all of us engineers want to live in. Being a "millionaire" perhaps means having access to $1M, not earning it over 10 years... and that is tough (no bad luck at all or market downturns or health issues...)
These meetings are a great way to see what other folks are doing, meet people in various roles, and explore topics that you might otherwise not get exposure to.
Many of these meetings are set up to allow people to talk about their stuff for a few minutes. This is a great way to "break out of your shell" and gives you invaluable skills in pitching and communicating what you are working on.
Get your confidence up to participate and talk about some coding you are doing. You might find someone who shares your interest to collaborate with.
Beware of service providers unless you are looking to meet them. Attorneys, head hunters, recruiters, and other non-developers also tend to hang around these meetings to get closer to --- you the in-demand developer!
Its a great question. I believe IMHO that ultimately it boils down to the application; does it require computer science, some deep scientific understanding, or does it require basic knowledge of a language? Are you writing real-time Bayesian Learning algorithms for use on big data feeds for example or a sign-up form for a web site? Do you need to have fine control over where data is placed in memory so you can optimize performance (C/C++...assembly even?) or do you not need to know anything at all about memory management - and don't want to? There is a raft of questions like this.
Self taught programmers can write well but may be missing some of the nuance for why things are done one way over another or maybe be missing some tricks that save a lot of time. These limitations can be overcome by somebody committed to writing good quality code.
Deploying the C++ version is a lot of effort on our part. We would need to configure it to your build settings and your environment - which are highly variable in C++ environments.
We don't want to provide a bad experience and therefore can not yet make it free for C++ teams.
If you are interested we can make something work for your situation.
I've looked at many of them including BaseCamp, Mavenlink, Pivotal, and we're using Asana. We also use Streak and Boomerang. I have not worked with Trello but will definitely be checking it out. These tools are all great but believe it or not, when I need to do something really quickly a Google doc spreadsheet does the job. We're a small team and need to be focused on getting great product out. Tools that require a lot of work are time sinks and without proper care and feeding they start to bloat with items that are dragged along week-to-week. Anyone get "reminder" emails with tasks that are open but are no longer relevant or just not closed out?
Oh yes, I have seen where re-writes are actually done. Developers start to talk about the lack of "scalability" and "maintainability" of the application with the best solution being to rewrite the app. I've also seen Java-to-Microsoft stack ports being bandied about. Generally it is a really bad idea but some of the decision depends on the language(s) preferred by the firm inheriting the app and the size of the app.
Synchronization to source and perhaps being able to detect when comments are not current would be a great feature. How about associating comments to code but outside of it sort of like a "source-aware" wiki?
Simply put, we need a better way. Some of these are just unintelligible and require multiple attempts. Someone please come up with a model that makes sense!
What I haven't seen discussed is the impact of the anti-trust action against MS back in the Netscape days. I wonder what the effect on the corporate zeitgeist was then and how it all unfurled over time.
Do you have concerns about keeping your documentation in sync with your source? I find that when I'm working with examples that if they don't work I first assume that it is me or something in my configuration. The last thing I think of is that the docs are out of sync with the example.
What is really cool is to actually see an SR-71. The Intrepid in NYC has one on deck along with the retired shuttle Enterprise. There's a Concorde and some other cool aircraft too.