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"Hmm, I wanna make a better awesomer videogame ... wonder how I go about doing that". Curiosity takes care of the rest. That's true, but it doesn't seem to me
by Zak 14y ago
"Hmm, I wanna make a better awesomer videogame ... wonder how I go about doing that". Curiosity takes care of the rest.
That's true, but it doesn't seem to me that a large percentage of programmers I know got interested in programming that way. I haven't conducted a formal survey, but that's the impression I have. It's very possible that my impression is wrong or that I'd get different results talking to a high school CS class than programmers in their 20s and 30s.
It is, apparently, culturally acceptable for a boy to arse around on a computer all day, while the same does not hold true for a girl.
I think that's less true now than it used to be in large part due to the increase in social uses of computers. Some of those social uses lend themselves to the sort of customization that would get people interested in coding as above. I'm thinking specifically of things like FBPurity, a browser extension that hides unwanted content on Facebook.
There's certainly an underlying issue with cultural stereotypes where boys are expected to tinker with technical/mechanical things and girls aren't. The distinction might be entirely arbitrary, as girls are expected to tinker with things thought of as feminine. Few people would be surprised by a girl making alterations to her clothing.
- Negitivefrags 14y ago> That's true, but it doesn't seem to me that a large percentage of programmers I know got interested in programming that way. I haven't conducted a formal survey, but that's the impression I have. It's very possible that my impression is wrong or that I'd get different results talking to a high school CS class than programmers in their 20s and 30s. I don't know any programmers who didn't get in to programming that way. That said, I do work at a game company, so I meet more game programmers that not, but even in my university days, all the serious students had started programming before they entered, and the initial motivation for that was games.
- Goladus 14y ago>> It's very possible that my impression is wrong or that I'd get different results talking to a high school CS class than programmers in their 20s and 30s. > I don't know any programmers who didn't get in to programming that way. My first attempt at programming was asking our TRS-80, in English, if it would make a laser sound. "Syntax error" was it's reply. But yeah trading stories about mucking with CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT to get games working is par for the course when I meet tech people in their 20s and 30s.