3 ms·

Ask HN: What kind of person doesn't even try to learn computer programming?

6 points by amichail 5y ago

theandrewbailey 5y ago
I'm guessing that you have a story to tell?
- amichail 5y ago
  It seems to me that just using apps but never writing them is sort of like only reading a natural language but never writing in it.
  - jstx1 5y ago
    Why isn't it like driving a car and never building one? Or like using the bathroom but not wanting to be a plumber? Those seem like more appropriate analogies. People (including yourself) are using tonnes of tools that they never build themselves or don't have deeper interest in and that's perfectly fine.
  - stairlane 5y ago
    I'm not sure that analogy is appropriate. Writing software requires a specific set of skills revolving around one tool (okay, there are many possible tools here): computers. You probably use another tool that provides tremendous use in your life: a car. Have you worked on a car before? Do you understand how all of it works? I use this analogy in contrast to yours because I do work on cars, and completely understand why hardly anybody does. It's incredibly time consuming, difficult, AND requires a specific set of skills revolving around certain tools. Most people are time and money constrained, and learning programming might not be worth the investment of either given their life circumstances.
  - theandrewbailey 5y ago
    Different people are interested in different things. Just because I live in a house and drive a car doesn't mean that I want to personally build or fix them. Sure, it's 'really easy' (for you), but not everyone has the desire or talent to do so.
    - sharemywin 5y ago
      or votes and doesn't know how democracy works.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
jimmyvalmer 5y ago
The kind that cuts your paycheck.
h2odragon 5y ago
Many people live in houses; few think they want to build one. Most of us use roads; but can we say what differentiates a good road design from a bad one? Can we sensibly critique (or recognize) the construction choices we see in a concrete example thats right in front of us? There's the "well rounded person" argument that says you should at least have some idea what programming is and how the shape of that affects your life. But that's bound to cause misconceptions, because there's not an easy soundbite answer: "I'm in construction" could be wildly different depending on whether you're building roads or houses, and "I'm a programmer" is as different between "web front end" and the depths of embedded systems.
8bitsrule 5y ago
My guess is that a lot of casual programmers are like inventors. Not for everyone. To invent material devices means finding or making a lot of unusual physical parts. A computer language already has the parts. Like music, cars, math, painting, a working program either scratches the itch or it doesn't. Be careful of a program you could keep improving forever. Danger, Will Robinson!!

6 points by amichail 5y ago

theandrewbailey 5y ago

I'm guessing that you have a story to tell?

amichail 5y ago
It seems to me that just using apps but never writing them is sort of like only reading a natural language but never writing in it.
- jstx1 5y ago
  Why isn't it like driving a car and never building one? Or like using the bathroom but not wanting to be a plumber? Those seem like more appropriate analogies. People (including yourself) are using tonnes of tools that they never build themselves or don't have deeper interest in and that's perfectly fine.
- stairlane 5y ago
  I'm not sure that analogy is appropriate. Writing software requires a specific set of skills revolving around one tool (okay, there are many possible tools here): computers. You probably use another tool that provides tremendous use in your life: a car. Have you worked on a car before? Do you understand how all of it works? I use this analogy in contrast to yours because I do work on cars, and completely understand why hardly anybody does. It's incredibly time consuming, difficult, AND requires a specific set of skills revolving around certain tools. Most people are time and money constrained, and learning programming might not be worth the investment of either given their life circumstances.
- theandrewbailey 5y ago
  Different people are interested in different things. Just because I live in a house and drive a car doesn't mean that I want to personally build or fix them. Sure, it's 'really easy' (for you), but not everyone has the desire or talent to do so.
  - sharemywin 5y ago
    or votes and doesn't know how democracy works.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

jimmyvalmer 5y ago

The kind that cuts your paycheck.

h2odragon 5y ago

Many people live in houses; few think they want to build one. Most of us use roads; but can we say what differentiates a good road design from a bad one? Can we sensibly critique (or recognize) the construction choices we see in a concrete example thats right in front of us? There's the "well rounded person" argument that says you should at least have some idea what programming is and how the shape of that affects your life. But that's bound to cause misconceptions, because there's not an easy soundbite answer: "I'm in construction" could be wildly different depending on whether you're building roads or houses, and "I'm a programmer" is as different between "web front end" and the depths of embedded systems.

8bitsrule 5y ago

My guess is that a lot of casual programmers are like inventors. Not for everyone. To invent material devices means finding or making a lot of unusual physical parts. A computer language already has the parts. Like music, cars, math, painting, a working program either scratches the itch or it doesn't. Be careful of a program you could keep improving forever. Danger, Will Robinson!!