The fascination with computer science

[Alphathree]

And if this is off topic, then I don't know what is on topic for this board. [I may begin to ramble though ]

Why do we like programming? Most people I've met, short of my those who become my friends, find technical details boring. Who would ever want to write this inexplicable, confusing mass of strange characters? My computer does what it should do, so why should I care? That's the attitude.

For those of us who find programming enjoyable, what makes us so different? What separates programmers, physicists and mathematicians from the rest is an intrinsic need to bring order from chaos; to organize the disorganized.

To us, or at least to me, the world seems full of vague generalizations and simplications. Inefficient, disorganized, or possibly non-existant systems of doing work. Each one, a problem waiting to be solved.

The joy of writing anything from a small script to an enterprise application comes from the theory of how it COULD work. We fantasize over designing a new program, but rarely do we enjoy the end result of our work.

When was the last time someone came to this form showing off their working script? It's the problem-solving within that we crave.

While logic and computer science go hand in hand, I've come to realize that the same concepts cannot be applied to reality. I often tell friends and colleagues that while my desk might be a mess, and my room a diaster, I am mentally organized. Pure logic is wonderful for theory, but deadly for life.

As Seven of Nine once unknowningly demonstrated, fun cannot be regulated. Love cannot be measured. As humans we need spontaneity and disorder to survive. [I remember reading a parody about an Apple programmer who had a big red question-mark on the side of his computer. He said he walked around the office with bare feet to allow his creative thoughts to flow.]

The next time you're writing an application, think about what you are working towards. For every bit of effort you put into organizing the world around you, you will have to fight to keep that organization. And unless you plan on being around forever, it won't be possible to organize the entire universe and keep it that way.

And that's the unfortunate truth. Very disturbing for me, since what pushes me forward every day has always been the knowledge that I'm working towards some attainable goal. A goal which can never be reached or sustained.

(Wow, did I ever ramble!)

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I miss Off Topic.

[This message has been edited by Alphathree (edited July 18, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by Alphathree (edited July 18, 2001).]

[biosx]

I just wanted to be l33t like Z3r0-C00L

I enjoyed what you wrote and I found it to be right on target (especially with that desk = mess, mind = organized analogy). I agree that it is the problem solving that tickles us. However I must add that it might be along the same lines of why men don't ask for directions and that they build their own funiture.

It's all manual. You take nothing and create something. I find that very fun and that I have full control and that I call all the shots. If I don't like the way that one program runs or if I want to add something else to it, I just write a shell script that takes whatever program and adds whatever I want to it, ya know? After I am done, I am proud and I want to share it with people and show them what I've done.

This is where open source comes in. Open source lets us write our code and distribute it like it's a publication. People can look and marvel (or squabble) at what we've done. They can then also use it (or just reference it) to help them create whatever they were working on (or wanted to work on).

Comp Sci is very interesting in that it lies between Science and Pop-Culture. You have all the logic, computational-theory, and even math on the one side. Then aesthetics, ethics, creativity, and inside jokes on the other.

It can only grow.

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[Grizzly]

It's more of a lifeblood for me. The problem solving is definitely a huge part of it. I was always into chess when I was younger, and I was pretty good at it too. It's the strategy, and problem solving process that comes along with making a nice clean application that thrills me.

I find I sleep 10x better at night if I spend about 3-4 hours coding something before I go to bed, it's weird...but it brings about an internal peace which I simply cannot reproduce anywhere else in my life.

[reklis]

The reason I got into it, and the reason I *stayed* in it, were two different things. Although they are related, the reason I initially started programming was because I had a friend that seemed like he knew everything there was to know about computers. I admired him, and I wanted to know what he knew. He showed me how to program here and there, and at first I dropped it because I wasn't initially entrigued. Later I took a computer science class in High School and realized that if there was any job that I would love doing, it was going to be this. I don't know if it was just being more mature made me more interested, or if my friend was a bad teacher, or what. Who knows.

If the question is "Why do we love it?" and not "Why do we do it?" then I guess I haven't answered that yet. I enjoy the intellectual challenge, and I enjoy helping others with their challenges. Problem solving is a big portion of it for me, and I think it's the only reason I'm still doing it. Every problem I solve is different and unique in some way. I think the day I've solved everything is the day I can retire

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[dighn]

I needed a productive hobby to kill time with so I decided to go into computer programming... I found it to be pretty interesting so I got more and more into it. I also like pure science, physics is my favorite.

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[This message has been edited by dighn (edited July 18, 2001).]

[The_Hitman]

I think it all about the little tiny amounts of brain chemicals that get released everytime you solve a little problem, like get a routine to run right in your program... in computers we get these little chemicals all day long (if your good... and if you dont work with Windows where nothing is ever solved its all a mystery)...

So, its sort of addicting... you get little endorphens all day long... little successes...

Thats my theory at least.

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[OmegalordX]

I enjoy it because in your limited domain you are <b>God</b>, you control what goes on. It s the type of power other professions don't get to have. Unless you work in Washington DC

[Alphathree]

I agree with you, but you clearly aren't the god of UBB script yet

Originally posted by OmegalordX:
I enjoy it because in your limited domain you are <b>God</b>, you control what goes on. It s the type of power other professions don't get to have. Unless you work in Washington DC

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I miss Off Topic.

[OmegalordX]

Originally posted by Alphathree:
I agree with you, but you clearly aren't the god of UBB script yet

lol you got that right! Look ma I did it!

[Snakex]

For me, I am only going into my senior year of highschool but the one period I have every day I wish I could have all day. When I got a project I had to work on for school, I tried to find all the ways i could modify it or other solutions for it.

I never can understand why but I enjoyed the programming. Now with my senior year coming up and me have gone through every stage of my schools programming I have it as independant study. My big question is what am I going to make? But there is plenty of time for that.

I don't know if its just me or all of you but I enjoy knowing not only programming but all aspects about computers in general I try to learn. Maybe it is when someone needs help on the computer I can give it in all ways applicable. Or maybe its my need to know, I want to know everything, I want to know how everything in the computer world works.

In the end, the pleasure I get from finishing a program and it running right, or from going over a freinds house and fixing thier computer in 15 minutes for free when someone would have charged $50+ is why I love this stuff.

Wow I have rambeled.

Im gonna stop

Bryan

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"Just remember the shark
that bit you is the one
gets to have a head full
of lead later on"