6 ms·

Reading this thread, it’s funny how universally identified with wizards software engineers are. It’s not just the arcane knowledge and elaborate incantations.

Reading this thread, it’s funny how universally identified with wizards software engineers are. It’s not just the arcane knowledge and elaborate incantations. I actually think musicians and athletes possess more of this type of ability. Movie magic to me seems to involve timing and physicality. I think the real connection is that programming truly is a generalizable tool. A wizard can apply magic to all kinds of general situations. Similarly, a programmer can apply computation generally. A musician can make magical, mind-blowing music but they can’t use music to make a dishwasher.

dymk 5y ago
I’m almost certain my ability to program will help me make a dishwasher about the same as my ability to play the guitar.
- monetus 5y ago
  Buttons based on a fretboard, triggered with pickups... Timers sounding off with chord progressions... Seems fun.
  - swasheck 5y ago
    someone should turn that into a video game
    - monetus 5y ago
      Dishwashing hero, featuring aerosmith and whirlpool
- mwint 5y ago
  If you’re able to program, you’re in a much better position to figure out control flow, sensor feedback systems, etc. Certainly your programming experience would help make a dishwasher more than your guitar experience.
  - dymk 5y ago
    I'd say my general problem-solving ability would help me more than the rest of my skills combined. I take your point that it's _more_ helpful than guitar, but I see it like this: I need 100 relevant-ability-points to build a dishwasher. Playing guitar gives me 1. Knowing how to program gives me 10. I'm still 89 points short. I just think it's weird how we think that being software engineers translates in some particularly helpful way to building a dishwasher, when really one would need a multitude of skills to do so - involving electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, fabrication expertise, materials engineering.
adastra22 5y ago
We are literally wizards. We use a strange language to entice a rock filled with electricity to do our bidding. We speak to golems.
- webmaven 5y ago
  > We are literally wizards. We use a strange language to entice a rock filled with electricity to do our bidding. We speak to golems. Yup. Steve Savitzky's song The World Inside the Crystal uses a similar metaphor: https://thestarport.org/people/steve/Doc/Songs/world/ https://thestarport.org/people/steve/Doc/Songs/world/
webmaven 5y ago
> I think the real connection is that programming truly is a generalizable tool. A wizard can apply magic to all kinds of general situations. Similarly, a programmer can apply computation generally. A musician can make magical, mind-blowing music but they can’t use music to make a dishwasher. In Alan Dean Foster's Spellsinger series the protagonist is able to conjure up (on separate occasions) a Jeep and a boat using music magic. A dishwasher wouldn't have been much of a challenge (other than their usual difficulty in getting the result they were aiming for and the fact that there wouldn't be electricity or plumbing to hook it up to).

dymk 5y ago

I’m almost certain my ability to program will help me make a dishwasher about the same as my ability to play the guitar.

monetus 5y ago
Buttons based on a fretboard, triggered with pickups... Timers sounding off with chord progressions... Seems fun.
- swasheck 5y ago
  someone should turn that into a video game
  - monetus 5y ago
    Dishwashing hero, featuring aerosmith and whirlpool
mwint 5y ago
If you’re able to program, you’re in a much better position to figure out control flow, sensor feedback systems, etc. Certainly your programming experience would help make a dishwasher more than your guitar experience.
- dymk 5y ago
  I'd say my general problem-solving ability would help me more than the rest of my skills combined. I take your point that it's _more_ helpful than guitar, but I see it like this: I need 100 relevant-ability-points to build a dishwasher. Playing guitar gives me 1. Knowing how to program gives me 10. I'm still 89 points short. I just think it's weird how we think that being software engineers translates in some particularly helpful way to building a dishwasher, when really one would need a multitude of skills to do so - involving electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, fabrication expertise, materials engineering.

adastra22 5y ago

We are literally wizards. We use a strange language to entice a rock filled with electricity to do our bidding. We speak to golems.

webmaven 5y ago
> We are literally wizards. We use a strange language to entice a rock filled with electricity to do our bidding. We speak to golems. Yup. Steve Savitzky's song The World Inside the Crystal uses a similar metaphor: https://thestarport.org/people/steve/Doc/Songs/world/ https://thestarport.org/people/steve/Doc/Songs/world/

webmaven 5y ago

> I think the real connection is that programming truly is a generalizable tool. A wizard can apply magic to all kinds of general situations. Similarly, a programmer can apply computation generally. A musician can make magical, mind-blowing music but they can’t use music to make a dishwasher. In Alan Dean Foster's Spellsinger series the protagonist is able to conjure up (on separate occasions) a Jeep and a boat using music magic. A dishwasher wouldn't have been much of a challenge (other than their usual difficulty in getting the result they were aiming for and the fact that there wouldn't be electricity or plumbing to hook it up to).