April 18, 2008 at 18:30A few words about programming and non-programmers
And also about those who want to learn this art. Very subjective.
I am proud of my profession, but I really do not like to tell people who are not very versed in programming and in IT in particular, who I work with.
People agree that a programmer is someone who is connected with computers. The similarities end there. One thinks I'm printing paper in Word, the other is that I repair computers and other peripherals. I don’t make it up. Here is a case that happened somehow in our wonderful military registration and enlistment office. Having learned the type of activity, the ensign was delighted:
- Oh, but our printer does not print!
- Which printer?
- Well, such, with a tape.
- Does the head drive?
- Yeah.
- Is there ink on the tape?
- You don’t hold us military at all for fools. There is ink.
- I don’t know, I’m not really a specialist in dot matrix printer repair!
- Ooh, and you say a programmer!
You will probably understand that it was easier for me to agree with his versions that I was a useless programmer than to start arguing, thus lingering in this "hospitable" establishment.
Of course, I don’t need it to be like this:
“I visited once in our wonderful military registration and enlistment office. Having learned the kind of activity, the ensign was delighted:
- Oh, and I have problems with late binding: I want the method of the class to which the variable refers to the instance to be called, and only the method of the parent class will be called.
- Is the method declared as virtual in the parent?
- Yes, I tried both as virtual and as dynamic!
“Well, that doesn't play a big role.” And in descendants the method is blocked?
- Aah! Not! Thank you! ”
But it’s just a little annoying that the profession is not taken seriously and confused with the secretary. Then I wonder where, in the opinion of such people, the programs come from? I have 3 versions:
1) They think that programs are written in 3 clicks of the mouse.
2) They think what needs to be said into the microphone: “Computer, I need such a program here.”
3) They don’t think anything at all.
Some people nevertheless begin to guess that "not the gods of the program write." Only bad when these people are at the same time your bosses. Here are the words of my friend, who works as the only programmer in the company: “They gave me the task to write an application that works with the database. Okay, I’m writing. 3 days pass, they ask, is it ready? A month later he wrote, but everyone thought that I was just doing what I was sitting on the Internet and laying out my headscarf and, in general, getting my salary in vain.
Some, especially young people, having learned that in principle a program can be written by themselves, light up with a “desire” to learn programming, but they want to quickly skip the learning process itself and get a finished result. Therefore, forums are overloaded with messages like:
“I want to make a game like Doom 3. I heard that the games are written in C ++. I have a C ++ tutorial, I really haven’t read it, there are already 150 pages, and there seems to be nothing about games there. In short, HELP !!! ”
Maybe this example is too exaggerated, but not far from the truth (I know such people). Such comrades would like to say:
"Yes Easy! Only first you need to verify the hardness of at least school mathematical knowledge, then study analytical geometry, linear algebra, discrete mathematics, and math. logic and mat. analysis. Advanced computer literacy is taken for granted. You need to read more than one or two books on the programming language, as well as learn some more different technologies. And, of course, it is necessary to practice until the theory settles deeper in the head, it’s better to go right into the DNA :) ”
But it seems to me that programmers go a different way, something like mine did (although I can’t say here, there’s little statistical material):
I was in 5th grade and we had 386th. I did nothing but play, and the thought of writing programs did not occur to me, although my father was a programmer. I also had a book on basic programming for students. I began to read it, because it was written in the form of a story, and I loved the stories. After about 30 pages, I came across an example of a program that asked for temperature in Fahrenheit and translated in Celsius, something like this:
She shocked me so much that she was so small, understandable, and at the same time greeting, calculating, and displaying, because if you compare with a calculator, you need to remember the translation formula and press a bunch of buttons to calculate, and then ... I immediately ran to father, specified whether she will work on our computer. Having received an affirmative answer, he hacked QBasic, scored, and away we go ... It turned out to be more interesting than games! By the way, perhaps, not one of my subsequently written programs has brought me such impressions as this, the first!
Some (mostly schoolchildren) ask me: how long does it take to learn how to write good programs. I answer that it’s really possible to enjoy a few years with constant practice. So their desire to learn disappears. They are not happy with the first program written that displays “Hello, World!”, They need a lot at once. But it is very pleasing that I may not say so about everyone! :)
Programming can be called science, art, creativity, craft, but in any case it is impossible to achieve success if we think only about the final result. The process itself should be satisfying, even if a small step in learning is completed. If you think: “Oh, well, another 5 years of torment and I will be a professional programmer,” then probably it is not for you. And if for you there is no better rest than exploring a couple of new functions, implementing some algorithm or reading the corresponding book, then you would like to say: “Hey, stop, and the programmers got divorced, I’ll stay without work!”. Joke :)
I am proud of my profession, but I really do not like to tell people who are not very versed in programming and in IT in particular, who I work with.
People agree that a programmer is someone who is connected with computers. The similarities end there. One thinks I'm printing paper in Word, the other is that I repair computers and other peripherals. I don’t make it up. Here is a case that happened somehow in our wonderful military registration and enlistment office. Having learned the type of activity, the ensign was delighted:
- Oh, but our printer does not print!
- Which printer?
- Well, such, with a tape.
- Does the head drive?
- Yeah.
- Is there ink on the tape?
- You don’t hold us military at all for fools. There is ink.
- I don’t know, I’m not really a specialist in dot matrix printer repair!
- Ooh, and you say a programmer!
You will probably understand that it was easier for me to agree with his versions that I was a useless programmer than to start arguing, thus lingering in this "hospitable" establishment.
Of course, I don’t need it to be like this:
“I visited once in our wonderful military registration and enlistment office. Having learned the kind of activity, the ensign was delighted:
- Oh, and I have problems with late binding: I want the method of the class to which the variable refers to the instance to be called, and only the method of the parent class will be called.
- Is the method declared as virtual in the parent?
- Yes, I tried both as virtual and as dynamic!
“Well, that doesn't play a big role.” And in descendants the method is blocked?
- Aah! Not! Thank you! ”
But it’s just a little annoying that the profession is not taken seriously and confused with the secretary. Then I wonder where, in the opinion of such people, the programs come from? I have 3 versions:
1) They think that programs are written in 3 clicks of the mouse.
2) They think what needs to be said into the microphone: “Computer, I need such a program here.”
3) They don’t think anything at all.
Some people nevertheless begin to guess that "not the gods of the program write." Only bad when these people are at the same time your bosses. Here are the words of my friend, who works as the only programmer in the company: “They gave me the task to write an application that works with the database. Okay, I’m writing. 3 days pass, they ask, is it ready? A month later he wrote, but everyone thought that I was just doing what I was sitting on the Internet and laying out my headscarf and, in general, getting my salary in vain.
Some, especially young people, having learned that in principle a program can be written by themselves, light up with a “desire” to learn programming, but they want to quickly skip the learning process itself and get a finished result. Therefore, forums are overloaded with messages like:
“I want to make a game like Doom 3. I heard that the games are written in C ++. I have a C ++ tutorial, I really haven’t read it, there are already 150 pages, and there seems to be nothing about games there. In short, HELP !!! ”
Maybe this example is too exaggerated, but not far from the truth (I know such people). Such comrades would like to say:
"Yes Easy! Only first you need to verify the hardness of at least school mathematical knowledge, then study analytical geometry, linear algebra, discrete mathematics, and math. logic and mat. analysis. Advanced computer literacy is taken for granted. You need to read more than one or two books on the programming language, as well as learn some more different technologies. And, of course, it is necessary to practice until the theory settles deeper in the head, it’s better to go right into the DNA :) ”
But it seems to me that programmers go a different way, something like mine did (although I can’t say here, there’s little statistical material):
I was in 5th grade and we had 386th. I did nothing but play, and the thought of writing programs did not occur to me, although my father was a programmer. I also had a book on basic programming for students. I began to read it, because it was written in the form of a story, and I loved the stories. After about 30 pages, I came across an example of a program that asked for temperature in Fahrenheit and translated in Celsius, something like this:
INPUT "Привет! Введи температуру в Фаренгейтах: ", F
C = 5/9 * (F-32)
PRINT "А в Цельсиях она равна: ", C
She shocked me so much that she was so small, understandable, and at the same time greeting, calculating, and displaying, because if you compare with a calculator, you need to remember the translation formula and press a bunch of buttons to calculate, and then ... I immediately ran to father, specified whether she will work on our computer. Having received an affirmative answer, he hacked QBasic, scored, and away we go ... It turned out to be more interesting than games! By the way, perhaps, not one of my subsequently written programs has brought me such impressions as this, the first!
Some (mostly schoolchildren) ask me: how long does it take to learn how to write good programs. I answer that it’s really possible to enjoy a few years with constant practice. So their desire to learn disappears. They are not happy with the first program written that displays “Hello, World!”, They need a lot at once. But it is very pleasing that I may not say so about everyone! :)
Programming can be called science, art, creativity, craft, but in any case it is impossible to achieve success if we think only about the final result. The process itself should be satisfying, even if a small step in learning is completed. If you think: “Oh, well, another 5 years of torment and I will be a professional programmer,” then probably it is not for you. And if for you there is no better rest than exploring a couple of new functions, implementing some algorithm or reading the corresponding book, then you would like to say: “Hey, stop, and the programmers got divorced, I’ll stay without work!”. Joke :)