I started programming when I was 7. I'm 50 now and the thing I loved has changed

A 50-year-old developer who started coding at age 7 has penned a viral essay mourning the soul of computing. He argues the era of tangible, creative constraints from 8-bit machines to the 486 has been replaced by abstracted, corporate-controlled appliances. The optimism of building anything has given way to platforms built for surveillance and monetization, leaving many veteran developers feeling a profound, unspoken loss about their craft's fundamental transformation.