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Why is programming easy for those who're not academically inclined?

I've found this a lot in my class. I'm from Nepal. Those who are not very academically inclined find programming easier than those who are more academically inclined. Correlation!=causation. So, my question is why is programming coming easy for some people whereas it comes hard or never comes for others?

oifjsidjf 4y ago
It could be that academics hold to the false notion of trying to adhere to design patterns everywhere, which hardly ever works in practice after the software matures and might only work a smaller/certain abstraction layers of the lifecycle of the software but then it breaks down and you're in no-mans land. The academia can also throw in many moronic notions of "how you SHOULD be programming" which is only a detriment really since how academics think you should programm has no relevance to how programming is like in the real world. Academical indoctrination and useless baggage basicaly.
FrankWilhoit 4y ago
Programming is easy if you don't care whether your code gives the right answer. Ask anyone who "codes" in a business environment (with the exception of a few well-known industries).
0xmarcin 4y ago
I think this is because programming is both highly interactive and experimental. You write some code, run it, test it, rinse and repeat. This is the essence of gamification. I think you may also find Physics interesting if you had the entire physics lab for yourself and you could tinker with stuff. Same goes for electronics, except that it is way safer to tinker with than physics (high voltages are always dangerous though) and way cheaper. The last possibility is simply that you have a talent for it, call it whatever you want. Some people are just naturally born coders - see for example John Carmack bio for an example.
airbreather 4y ago
Writing a program, which means both designing the structure and writing the code, is often the result of many iterations and just not giving up until the best or acceptable result emeges. Academically inclined people, esp without significant world experience, are often used to things coming fairly easily to them and often self select to give up when immediate (and possibly self affirming) results are not on the near horizon. So, reasonable talent plus persistance can easily win the day.
brudgers 4y ago
Success in programming is less coupled to general test taking skill than most common academic subjects. Whether or not your FizzBuzz runs is at best loosely coupled to taking class notes and reading the text. Whether or not FizzBuzz runs correlates to time at the computer writing code. In my experience, people tend to default to what comes easy. So people who are good at taking notes and reading textbooks are likely to try to pass a programming class by taking notes and reading textbooks. Also in my experience, people try to avoid the unfamiliar. So people who are good at taking notes and reading textbooks are likely to avoid the unfamiliar territory of sitting at the computer. But, plenty of academically inclined people are good at programming. It helps to grow up in a culture where not being academic is more ok. Like the US. Good luck.

oifjsidjf 4y ago

It could be that academics hold to the false notion of trying to adhere to design patterns everywhere, which hardly ever works in practice after the software matures and might only work a smaller/certain abstraction layers of the lifecycle of the software but then it breaks down and you're in no-mans land. The academia can also throw in many moronic notions of "how you SHOULD be programming" which is only a detriment really since how academics think you should programm has no relevance to how programming is like in the real world. Academical indoctrination and useless baggage basicaly.

FrankWilhoit 4y ago

Programming is easy if you don't care whether your code gives the right answer. Ask anyone who "codes" in a business environment (with the exception of a few well-known industries).

0xmarcin 4y ago

I think this is because programming is both highly interactive and experimental. You write some code, run it, test it, rinse and repeat. This is the essence of gamification. I think you may also find Physics interesting if you had the entire physics lab for yourself and you could tinker with stuff. Same goes for electronics, except that it is way safer to tinker with than physics (high voltages are always dangerous though) and way cheaper. The last possibility is simply that you have a talent for it, call it whatever you want. Some people are just naturally born coders - see for example John Carmack bio for an example.

airbreather 4y ago

Writing a program, which means both designing the structure and writing the code, is often the result of many iterations and just not giving up until the best or acceptable result emeges. Academically inclined people, esp without significant world experience, are often used to things coming fairly easily to them and often self select to give up when immediate (and possibly self affirming) results are not on the near horizon. So, reasonable talent plus persistance can easily win the day.

brudgers 4y ago

Success in programming is less coupled to general test taking skill than most common academic subjects. Whether or not your FizzBuzz runs is at best loosely coupled to taking class notes and reading the text. Whether or not FizzBuzz runs correlates to time at the computer writing code. In my experience, people tend to default to what comes easy. So people who are good at taking notes and reading textbooks are likely to try to pass a programming class by taking notes and reading textbooks. Also in my experience, people try to avoid the unfamiliar. So people who are good at taking notes and reading textbooks are likely to avoid the unfamiliar territory of sitting at the computer. But, plenty of academically inclined people are good at programming. It helps to grow up in a culture where not being academic is more ok. Like the US. Good luck.