I think these things do help with programming in a manner that is probably hard to measure. Making something has an affect, I find hard to describe, on my abili

I think these things do help with programming in a manner that is probably hard to measure. Making something has an affect, I find hard to describe, on my ability to think logically and creatively (in more areas than just programming, but it so happens that I spend most of my time programming). For those interested, here's a series of books on how to build your own machine shop from scratch (by building your own foundry, casting parts, etc...): http://www.lindsaybks.com/dgjp/djgbk/series/index.html http://www.lindsaybks.com/dgjp/djgbk/series/index.html (I'm not affiliated with Lindsay Books in any way)