Yesterday I had my first taste of what it's like to be a programmer, and looking back, I don't care for it much. The way of thinking required felt different than my usual way, and it felt less creative, less smart, less free, and less powerful.
#personal #programming #thinking
@kai π I can see how #programming domain knowledge acquisition leads to self-confidence, which can lead to #brogrammers.
@bthall that's quite a leap
@bthall I think that really depends on where you are at the learning scale. There comes a point at which programming is freeing, rather than constraining.
@kai π
And yeah, @arturovm, I was about to mention this: I think a lot of this feeling was because I was working within a high-level language whose system assumptions I don't fully know and agree with, so I end up trying to do my own thing, butting heads with the system's way of doing things, and applying the system's needs to my needs.
If I had enough understanding of programming, I could operate in either a less system-dictated way if I wanted or know/agree with the assumptions.
Tsatnosk
@bthall oooooh i wish i had time to talk about this, but baby...
@bthall @kai Yes! Thatβs called metaprogramming. And, without going into too much detail, youβre programming the language itself, meaning you get to change it to create more and more complex abstractions that allow you to do more complex things without the mental power and verbosity needed otherwise.
@bthall Try racket-lang.
@bthall Or even processing language.
@bthall Also check this out, I need to check it out as well: https://www.engineyard.com/blog/getting-started-with-ruby-processing
@bthall Racket is most related to scheme, and it's similar to lisp in it's parenthetical (s-exp) syntax.
@bthall But racket lets you implement other languages on-top of it with any syntax you please, including javascript or ruby, or C.
@bthall Programming is strangely not about freedom. If I had to explain it I would compare it to religion. To understand it you must give up your current way of thinking, and just accept it as gospel. Every language and style forces you to go at a problem in a different way. Something that help me kind of learn to accept it is to remember a computer can only do one thing and that is add numbers. Once you realize that then you find out it is you that bends instead of the spoon.
@bthall what about being a brogrammer