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by thaumaturgy
4504 days ago
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I'm actually not really convinced of the programming-as-artform treatment that's popular in a lot of programming circles. The main difference I was trying to illustrate between mechanics and programmers is that people occasionally get exposed to at least a little bit of the complexity that mechanics have to deal with. That might not make them treat their mechanics as well as they should, of course. But, in programming, we want to hide as much of the complexity from people as possible. Error messages have to be meaningful to the layperson, interfaces need to be intuitive, and so on. I haven't been able to think of another discipline quite like that. If anybody else can, I'd love to hear about it! |
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How about (staying with the building analogies because I'm in a building right now and looking around trying to think of analogies...) the electrician who has wired your flat? You don't think anything of the lights coming on when you flick a switch. Live in a place that's got slightly mediocre wiring, you don't really notice generally, But once in a while it bugs you that the light just blows sometimes. For no reason.
Of course, there's no error messages for a light failing. It doesn't tell us why it failed.
In truth I think our discipline is a unique discipline. Just like everyone else thinks theirs is (tell a plumber they're basically equivalent to a gas engineer or vice versa - but we 'normals' treat them that way). But we tend to concentrate on our new, unique-ish-ness. Our field is young, it has a long way to go. But essentially I don't see why programming needs to be, or should ever be, elevated to a particularly special status.
Point I didn't bother making explicit in my first post: Great music and art both have an effect on people who are not versed in music and art. Great programming only has an effect on fellow programmers.
EDIT
I think my basic point is that we should see our jobs as those where we get our work done. And we do the best job that we possibly can.
That's it. Not over-burdening ourselves for 'just one more push' (I'm currently failing somewhat with this in my current contract - do what I say; not what I do..). We as a group need to realise that like other people, we need to go home sometimes and relax too... That's the most beneficial thing. Not believing that our job is somehow exempt from the work/play balance