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Programming turns many people off since it’s so unforgiving. There is no room for getting things a ‘little bit wrong’ like in art. Most art allows for small err

Programming turns many people off since it’s so unforgiving. There is no room for getting things a ‘little bit wrong’ like in art. Most art allows for small errors - errors sometimes add to the aesthetic even!

arkitaip 4y ago
Yes and this unforgiveness starts at the very beginning when you set up your dev tools using conflicting or outdated instructions.
charlie0 4y ago
But at the same time, the feedback loop on programming is incredible. If you're wrong, you'll know right away. What I have found more frustrating is learning something with longer feedback loops. That's kept me from doing hardware. But I agree, this doesn't compare against things where there isn't a definite right answer.
- maximus-decimus 4y ago
  Either you find it right away... or once it's deployed and you get asked to fix it outside work hours.
- yucky 4y ago
  >If you're wrong, you'll know right away. Uhhh...wouldn't that be nice.
  - muzani 4y ago
    It still beats getting it wrong in other forms of engineering.
- shinryuu 4y ago
  The feedback loop is what got me hooked to programming. If it wasn't for that, I'm not sure what I would do. I used to do more writing, and wasn't very confident in my writing, was it any good? I wouldn't really know, no feedback whatsoever. Sometimes it would feel like you just wrote stuff and it went into a black hole. With programming it works (... or it doesn't). Of course, there are abstractions and clean ways to write a program so in the end I think my prior experience in writing has benefitted me in programming.
- croo 4y ago
  I disagree.The feedback loop on programming is horribly slow, at most bearable. Where are we from a feedback loop of a woodworker where when he cuts something wrong he can see it while doing the cut? I have to wait for a 2 to 30min build with end to end testing and deployment to hope that I'm right then two weeks from now a person with Opera starts using the application and proves that I was wrong.
muzani 4y ago
The unforgivingness of math combined with the complexity of languages. Math is a prereq not because we use it, but because people who don't have the patience for high school math won't have the patience to learn programming.

arkitaip 4y ago

Yes and this unforgiveness starts at the very beginning when you set up your dev tools using conflicting or outdated instructions.

charlie0 4y ago

But at the same time, the feedback loop on programming is incredible. If you're wrong, you'll know right away. What I have found more frustrating is learning something with longer feedback loops. That's kept me from doing hardware. But I agree, this doesn't compare against things where there isn't a definite right answer.

maximus-decimus 4y ago
Either you find it right away... or once it's deployed and you get asked to fix it outside work hours.
yucky 4y ago
>If you're wrong, you'll know right away. Uhhh...wouldn't that be nice.
- muzani 4y ago
  It still beats getting it wrong in other forms of engineering.
shinryuu 4y ago
The feedback loop is what got me hooked to programming. If it wasn't for that, I'm not sure what I would do. I used to do more writing, and wasn't very confident in my writing, was it any good? I wouldn't really know, no feedback whatsoever. Sometimes it would feel like you just wrote stuff and it went into a black hole. With programming it works (... or it doesn't). Of course, there are abstractions and clean ways to write a program so in the end I think my prior experience in writing has benefitted me in programming.
croo 4y ago
I disagree.The feedback loop on programming is horribly slow, at most bearable. Where are we from a feedback loop of a woodworker where when he cuts something wrong he can see it while doing the cut? I have to wait for a 2 to 30min build with end to end testing and deployment to hope that I'm right then two weeks from now a person with Opera starts using the application and proves that I was wrong.

muzani 4y ago

The unforgivingness of math combined with the complexity of languages. Math is a prereq not because we use it, but because people who don't have the patience for high school math won't have the patience to learn programming.