Do most programmers really enjoy programming?

[MrGrj]

Am decis ca in fiecare luni si vineri sa postez aici intrebari pe care le gasesc interesante (legate de programare, desigur), si cateva raspunsuri pertinente.

Do most programmers really enjoy programming?

I would say that most programmers enjoy programming most of the time.

It seems like you are looking for an absolute statement, which is the logical foundation of programming, but is not the nature of humans. We are fuzzy. We also get frustrated and feel triumph when we conquer problems.

That is where the joy of programming comes from. If you can muster up the patience to spend 30 minutes butting your head against the wall to solve a problem, then you get a very real bio-physical reward. If you didn't turn to stack overflow, perhaps you were the first person in the world to solve this particular problem (but not likely). You recieve social acknowledgements for this feat as well, both from other technology people and in the form of paychecks, which are all very rewarding and enjoyable.

Those, however, are extrinsic to the act of pressing buttons on a keyboard in a specific order to achieve a specific result. Intrinsic rewards are very different, and it depends on a person's dedication to self-knowledge and continual improvement.

I see programming as a path, not only to making software, but to instilling discipline and order in life. There are always challenges to meet you where you are at, from making a website to writing a compiler. When those challenges become routine, there is always something more to learn and achieve. When you reach deeper into the architecture of software, you are literally working against your old mind (or in the case of legacy or open source projects, many old minds of other people).

This is where programming is the most interesting for me, as code is the literal representation of thoughts, one can see the structure of mind, if it is not obscured behind much cleverness. In larger projects, you are trying to move within structures you have built, so when that project is done, you know to do it differently next time.

That's why things like MVC are so important, those magic letters tell us so much about a system, but as I've discovered recently making an event based server stack, they are also subject to the whims of obsolescence. Carving new ground, as mentioned previously, is enjoyable.

It's all about using the right tools for the problem at hand, and when things work out, that is enjoyable. My favorite part about programming, however, is when I've been struggling with a problem for a long time, and I take a walk.

Then I solve the problem. The most enjoyable part about programming is when I'm thinking about programming.

It is really hard to say if most programmers do enjoy programming or they do it for the sake of it. However, only the programmers who love to do programming would bother to answer this question. There are some professions where being passionate is a prerequisite for survival. Writers, musicians, professional athletes fall in this category. Any profession which involves a significant amount of creativity would fall in this league.

Programming is creative but you don't have to be creative to do your job. If you are a junior or even mid level engineer then you can follow the already existing solutions to do your job. Any person who tries to push the limits of their field (irrespective of profession) can do only if he is passionate about it. I think it is not a prerequisite to enjoy the programming for survival (like most of the other office jobs). Since programing pays well and a reasonably intelligent person can do it without fighting for survival, there may be a good chunk of people who do it for earning their bread and butter.

As others have already pointed out, if you care to do it in your free time then you definitely enjoy it. Programming grows on you. You may not like it in the beginning but if you persist, you will start enjoying it more than anything (just like any other creative work). I fall in this category.

Depends on what you program, doesn't it?

I hate programming user interfaces. I love programming AI for games (for a variety of reasons).

It's hard to give an all-around answer, but it's easier to give some scenarios that are generally true for everyone:

a) First few weeks of a new project. Always fun. That's why small hackathons like Ludum Dare are so popular. People love starting fresh new projects.

Working on a two year old project. Less fun. Not because we lose interest. But everything is harder now. Every new line of code affects the thousand of lines of code we've already written. A Blank canvas means a blank mind. What I mean is, after two years, when you load up your IDE, you also need to "load" everything you've written into your mind, so you can continue work on it. Complexity is never fun..

And the other two cases would be:

c) Doing something that doesn't provide a challenge for you. Not fun. If you've already programmed a Login page in the past, it's not gonna be fun doing it again for another project.

d) Challenging yourself, fun. You get a sense of accomplishment in the end that rewards you like nothing else. And I think this is what motivates most programmers to keep programming.

Finally, here's a HUGE misconception about the term 'programmer' that most people don't know. Programming is the menial task of converting an algorithm given to you, into a language the computer understands. This is not fun, period. But nowadays everybody uses the term 'programmer' in a much generic sense, like 'software designer'. The latter is someone responsible for both coming up with the algorithm, then programming it. Coming up with algorithms, fun.. But again, not all the time (look above).

HA-ha. The next one is so damn cute:

I don't. I've been working on video games for many years. This is an interesting and creative job, but a job, still. I don't do side projects. I code very rarely in my spare time. I don't even play a lot.

The job is ok for me, but when I have been sitting for 8 hours in front of the screen, I really like to do something else entirely. For me it is exercise. I was obese and unfit for many years, but now people say I look very athletic. I can run a marathon sub 4 and a 10 k sub 45. And it frees my mind and helps me to escape all those stupid infinite loops.

Next morning I can return to coding with a fresh brain. I think I have become a better programmer since it is not the only thing in my life anymore.

(Sorry if there are mistakes, I am from Germany and English is not my native language.)

Christian

zurza

Edited September 28, 2015 by MrGrj