Note: Sorry if this sounds like a ramble or if each paragraph seems disconnected. These are just my honest, un-edited thoughts.
Programming is as much an art as it is science, finding creative solutions to never solved before problems involves creativity much more than it does formulas.
To me, the most fascinating part of all this is the levels of abstraction it has taken us to come to this point. Electrons to fibre optics to wires to carrying data to circuit boards to logic gates and the alu to pc parts to the kernel to the operating system to package manager to packages and finally to you; you, who’s writing a programming language based on another programming language which is based on assembly which is based on machine code. Yet after all these attempts at simplification, it’s still hard.
Really what I love about programming is the fact that the computer does everything you ask it to – no unfairness, no randomness, no malice or ego – anything that doesn’t work or does work is objectively my fault – void of emotions and based purely on logic – “garbage in, garbage out” – and yet I cant seem to shed an emotional attachment to every piece of code I write, as if its a reflection of me. Nothing gives me this joy. It’s the only time when my brain truly shuts up.
I made a discovery today. I found a computer. Wait a second, this is cool. It does what I want it to. If it makes a mistake, it’s because I screwed it up. Not because it doesn’t like me… Or feels threatened by me. Or thinks I’m a smart ass.. Or doesn’t like teaching and shouldn’t be here…
I want everyone to feel the way I feel but I don’t think taking a computer science class or grinding leet code is the way to go about it. It’s the uniqeness that makes me excited, that makes me want to get up in the morning and create something, something valueable, something new.
I love the community almost as much as I love programming. If you want to find truly non-racist, non-sexist and “free” groups of individuals, its programmers. It doesn’t matter who you are, how old you are or where you’re from – if you have a valid question or some value to provide, yoou’ll be accepted in with arms wide open. People like vaxry and linus working hours on end without ever expecting anything in return just to build something cool, something for the rest of us.
I’m out of words to describe the profoundness of the impact that programming has had on me and the way I think. I can never repay the countless redditors and open source developers that answered my questions and fixed my bug reports but I can atleast try and express my gratitude, try and frame our mutual love and obsession for something that trascends all indivudals.
We explore… and you call us criminals. We seek after knowledge… and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias… and you call us criminals. Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like.
Both quotes were chosen exerpts from the “Hacker Manifesto” – https://www.mithral.com/~beberg/manifesto.html
