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I like to think programming is about being creative...but reality has stared at me too long. The large majority of it IS mundane and boring. I just looked at t

by bjwbell 11y ago

I like to think programming is about being creative...but reality has stared at me too long. The large majority of it IS mundane and boring. I just looked at the commit log for my current project, https://github.com/bjwbell/gensimd/commits/master https://github.com/bjwbell/gensimd/commits/master (SIMD in Go), and ~90% of the commits are boring. I still feel very excited about it, perhaps I'm unbalanced.

vegabook 11y ago
I don't think there is any creative endeavour in life that does not contain very large proportions of mundane work. What gets you through the mundanity is the creative spirit - the idea that the final product will be amazing / different / inspiring, that makes all the work worthwhile. "Unbalanced" is often a description of someone who is inordinately passionate about a project, and inevitably is applied to creative types without whom such projects would never come to fruition.
tonyedgecombe 11y ago
The majority of any creative endeavour is mundane and boring, we do it for those small moments of inspiration and insight that break up the periods of drudgery.
captn3m0 11y ago
For me, even if the smaller portions might be mundane, its the whole itself that is a creation by me. Look at that website: I made that. That tiny wiggle animation that brings a smile to your face: I made that happen. Sure, it took me 10 minutes of googling and hunting stack-overflow to workaround some weird browser issue, but the end result is definitely creative. Its not about programming as an activity, but the end-result of the activity, which is a creation.
abustamam 11y ago
Yes, there are very few careers and/or hobbies that are _not_ mundane. I like to make paper figurines in my spare time. I like seeing how the designs work together. However, about 90% of the time is spent either cutting the figure out, or folding/creasing the figure out. I really hate those parts, but I know that it's necessary for me to make the figure I want. It's 90% mundane, but the 10% I spend actually putting it together, as well as the finished product, makes it worth the monotony, in my opinion. And I think that's where passion lies--in a person's ability to trudge through the monotony because of the end goal.

by bjwbell 11y ago

vegabook 11y ago

I don't think there is any creative endeavour in life that does not contain very large proportions of mundane work. What gets you through the mundanity is the creative spirit - the idea that the final product will be amazing / different / inspiring, that makes all the work worthwhile. "Unbalanced" is often a description of someone who is inordinately passionate about a project, and inevitably is applied to creative types without whom such projects would never come to fruition.

tonyedgecombe 11y ago

The majority of any creative endeavour is mundane and boring, we do it for those small moments of inspiration and insight that break up the periods of drudgery.

captn3m0 11y ago

For me, even if the smaller portions might be mundane, its the whole itself that is a creation by me. Look at that website: I made that. That tiny wiggle animation that brings a smile to your face: I made that happen. Sure, it took me 10 minutes of googling and hunting stack-overflow to workaround some weird browser issue, but the end result is definitely creative. Its not about programming as an activity, but the end-result of the activity, which is a creation.

abustamam 11y ago

Yes, there are very few careers and/or hobbies that are _not_ mundane. I like to make paper figurines in my spare time. I like seeing how the designs work together. However, about 90% of the time is spent either cutting the figure out, or folding/creasing the figure out. I really hate those parts, but I know that it's necessary for me to make the figure I want. It's 90% mundane, but the 10% I spend actually putting it together, as well as the finished product, makes it worth the monotony, in my opinion. And I think that's where passion lies--in a person's ability to trudge through the monotony because of the end goal.