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I think it is a bit sad so many people see programming as pure magic. A programmer should not, in my opinion, see itself as a wizard doing tricks. Maybe see yo

I think it is a bit sad so many people see programming as pure magic. A programmer should not, in my opinion, see itself as a wizard doing tricks. Maybe see yourself as a modern magician instead: you have to work hard, you have to do the tough job, you have to know every tiny part that can go wrong during the show. Only then your work will appear to the audience as a great piece of wizardry. Never fool yourself!

AdamFernandez 12y ago
There is nothing wrong with adding a little fun and imagination to anything in your life. I don't know how many people fool themselves, versus viewing things with a particular narrative (magic) for enjoyment.
mklim 12y ago
> you have to work hard, you have to do the tough job, you have to know every tiny part that can go wrong during the show I absolutely agree. My intent wasn't to describe programming as magic in the sense that it's easy or as simple/nonsensical as waving a wand around. It's very much a discipline. I was drawing the parallel to magic in that it's an ethereal exercise—you describe what you want to happen, and then the letter of your description comes to pass. Getting this description to accurately model a moving system is a huge part of what makes the field so challenging. dyeje was on the mark with their fantastic quote further up the thread: "The programmer, like the poet, works only slightly removed from pure thought-stuff. He builds castles in the air, from air, creating by exertion of the imagination. Few media of creation are so flexible, so easy to polish and rework, so readily capable of realizing grand conceptual structures. Yet the program construct, unlike the poet’s words, is real in the sense that it moves and works, producing visible outputs separate from the construct itself. It prints results, draws pictures, produces sounds, moves arms."
- Zeronimo 12y ago
  The message was not indeed directly at you but more for new comers in the programming world. Just to remind them that without the hard work part, they'll end up doing small tricks at dinner. They can't expect to run the show in Vegas. And yes I feel very alike Gandalf some day, summoning intruders: you shall not pass!
  - marvy 12y ago
    Summoning intruders? That sounds like the last thing you'd want to summon!
    - Zeronimo 12y ago
      Sure. Banning them indeed. For those interested in the why, in some language I speak everyday you could say something that would translate literally into "summoning someone to do or not to do something" as "summoning intruders not to enter". Thanks for pointing that out. :-)
      - marvy 12y ago
        Cool. Which language?

AdamFernandez 12y ago

There is nothing wrong with adding a little fun and imagination to anything in your life. I don't know how many people fool themselves, versus viewing things with a particular narrative (magic) for enjoyment.

mklim 12y ago

> you have to work hard, you have to do the tough job, you have to know every tiny part that can go wrong during the show I absolutely agree. My intent wasn't to describe programming as magic in the sense that it's easy or as simple/nonsensical as waving a wand around. It's very much a discipline. I was drawing the parallel to magic in that it's an ethereal exercise—you describe what you want to happen, and then the letter of your description comes to pass. Getting this description to accurately model a moving system is a huge part of what makes the field so challenging. dyeje was on the mark with their fantastic quote further up the thread: "The programmer, like the poet, works only slightly removed from pure thought-stuff. He builds castles in the air, from air, creating by exertion of the imagination. Few media of creation are so flexible, so easy to polish and rework, so readily capable of realizing grand conceptual structures. Yet the program construct, unlike the poet’s words, is real in the sense that it moves and works, producing visible outputs separate from the construct itself. It prints results, draws pictures, produces sounds, moves arms."

Zeronimo 12y ago
The message was not indeed directly at you but more for new comers in the programming world. Just to remind them that without the hard work part, they'll end up doing small tricks at dinner. They can't expect to run the show in Vegas. And yes I feel very alike Gandalf some day, summoning intruders: you shall not pass!
- marvy 12y ago
  Summoning intruders? That sounds like the last thing you'd want to summon!
  - Zeronimo 12y ago
    Sure. Banning them indeed. For those interested in the why, in some language I speak everyday you could say something that would translate literally into "summoning someone to do or not to do something" as "summoning intruders not to enter". Thanks for pointing that out. :-)
    - marvy 12y ago
      Cool. Which language?