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I believe this is largely incorrect. You can learn to love something, largely because you find yourself successful at it. On other threads you can hear from pe

by Hyena 15y ago

I believe this is largely incorrect. You can learn to love something, largely because you find yourself successful at it. On other threads you can hear from people who hated math until they learned logic and they were off to the races. I am sure that programming has the same thing; in fact, I know programming has the same dynamic. I know this because there is a steady stream of "how Python/Ruby/mobile apps/ditching my boss made me fall in love with programming again" which suggests strongly that one can change affect. Too strongly for it not to be true.

chrisguitarguy 15y ago
>You can learn to love something True. Nothing is fun until you're good at it.
- cek 15y ago
  I agree you can learn to love something, but to say that nothing is fun until you are good at it is simply Not True. When I got my Apple ][ in 1980 I was not good at programming. But I had a freaking BLAST writing AppleSoft BASIC code till the cows came home. Weeks previously I probably couldn't have even SPELLED programmer.
  - wccrawford 15y ago
    Agreed. I've done plenty of things that I was bad at, but enjoyed anyhow. Programming is first on the list, though you might say I had a natural aptitude for it. Despite the long road of learning (mostly) on my own, I enjoyed it all the way. (I say 'mostly' because there was a short programming class in 4th grade that introduced me to it.) Bowling is another. I'm really not good at it. With practice I might be, but I don't practice enough. I enjoy it anyhow.
kd0amg 15y ago
"how Python/Ruby/mobile apps/ditching my boss made me fall in love with programming again" How many examples do we have without that qualifier (i.e. people who had never enjoyed in the past)?
- Hyena 15y ago
  On HN? None. But I personally know people who did not care about programming until they encountered a language or teacher or project which really clicked. LPTHW seems to do that an awful lot, in fact. I take that back, on HN, at least one, in this very thread it seems: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3205485 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3205485
  - kd0amg 15y ago
    There's also a degree of selection bias to account for here. Any ideas on how to get around that?

by Hyena 15y ago

chrisguitarguy 15y ago

>You can learn to love something True. Nothing is fun until you're good at it.

cek 15y ago
I agree you can learn to love something, but to say that nothing is fun until you are good at it is simply Not True. When I got my Apple ][ in 1980 I was not good at programming. But I had a freaking BLAST writing AppleSoft BASIC code till the cows came home. Weeks previously I probably couldn't have even SPELLED programmer.
- wccrawford 15y ago
  Agreed. I've done plenty of things that I was bad at, but enjoyed anyhow. Programming is first on the list, though you might say I had a natural aptitude for it. Despite the long road of learning (mostly) on my own, I enjoyed it all the way. (I say 'mostly' because there was a short programming class in 4th grade that introduced me to it.) Bowling is another. I'm really not good at it. With practice I might be, but I don't practice enough. I enjoy it anyhow.

kd0amg 15y ago

"how Python/Ruby/mobile apps/ditching my boss made me fall in love with programming again" How many examples do we have without that qualifier (i.e. people who had never enjoyed in the past)?

Hyena 15y ago
On HN? None. But I personally know people who did not care about programming until they encountered a language or teacher or project which really clicked. LPTHW seems to do that an awful lot, in fact. I take that back, on HN, at least one, in this very thread it seems: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3205485 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3205485
- kd0amg 15y ago
  There's also a degree of selection bias to account for here. Any ideas on how to get around that?