| I found myself nodding in agreement as he described what it's like as a beginner. I hacked in basic lightly for years in Jr. High and High School but i didn't seriously start picking up our craft until I was 18. Actually, it was January, 2001. I started back-then with classic ASP and a (gasp!) Access database. I recently went to an old messageboard I used frequently and looked through my first questions: I had a HECK of a time figuring out how to easily alternate row colors when I iterated thru a result set. I can't comprihend why it was so hard for me, but I remember for hours working on it before I posted the question. The answer I liked best, the 2-liner using modulus, is still the way I prefer to do it. Another was actually writing a Login system. Having to validate both username and password, for some reason, boggled me. I said, in my question to the group, "Does this have something to do with arrays?" And oh man the THRILL I got when I finally got these things working. It was a calling, no question about it. One of the surprising things to me after doing that a couple months was that it felt like the way I think, the way my mind works, changed in a big way. I stopped being as interested in fiction books, I started thinking though things in a more... linear way.. more logical, and I used my first programming metaphor when my best friend had a baby, "congrats man, you forked your process." Hard to believe it's been 10 years ago now and I still get my mind blown sometimes. Now it's things like continuations instead of alternating row colors but the rush i get when I master a technique hasn't changed at all. |