The Joy of Programming
I was 35 when I started to program. And immediately I loved it. It was as if a part of my brain that had been locked away could suddenly cavort in the broad daylight of ongoing life.
Having developed other skills and burnt though other passions, I was self-conscious about the joys of programming; I wanted to know what this new thing was, and why it thrilled me.
Some joys were not specific to programming per se but would attend the learning of any skill. Obviously, it’s cool to know how to do stuff. I remember vividly the stultification of my three brothers (an accountant, a lawyer, an engineer) when they started their careers, and even more vividly how they slowly got pulled into the details and the drama of their craft. As Moby Dick proved with whole chapters on subjects like stripping of whale carcasses, almost anything can be made intriguing. In the future, maybe bird-watching, souffle and design patterns will each have a cable channel devoted to them.
