Ask HN: What do you love about programming? What is your favorite field?
7 comments
Problem solving & creativity. Making something new out of nothing.
The practical / mental challenge & then reward of building something useful, expanding my understanding of the world, how things work.
Other practical hobbies such as woodwork, have similar satisfaction in there being an end result to look at and use, but although I enjoy them a lot, there's less mental learning, and so less mental satisfaction at the end (for me).
Other artistic hobbies such as creative writing have often as much mental effort, in trying to figure out how to explain a concept in exciting language, so that it ends up being interesting to read, but then doesn't usually result in a practical 'thing' that I can then use frequently. You write, you publish, it's done. With code, I often get to then use the result for (hopefully) years afterwards. And can improve upon it later.
I love seeing the whole structure of a project, made up of small parts and all fitting together.
I work full time in a non-profit org. as a programmer and A/V engineer. So a lot of my code is specifically related to our video production, events management, etc. So I get to see the rest of my team (and people at events) using my products. That's very satisfying.
I love learning. and so learning haskell, c, lisp, go, rust, etc. as well as improving my main working languages (Python & javascript) is fascinating. The ability to read one blog post, suddenly 'get' a concept, and feel as if my whole mind is bigger and my ability to think is clearer and mental model of things I can do is exponentially bigger is so exciting.
The practical / mental challenge & then reward of building something useful, expanding my understanding of the world, how things work.
Other practical hobbies such as woodwork, have similar satisfaction in there being an end result to look at and use, but although I enjoy them a lot, there's less mental learning, and so less mental satisfaction at the end (for me).
Other artistic hobbies such as creative writing have often as much mental effort, in trying to figure out how to explain a concept in exciting language, so that it ends up being interesting to read, but then doesn't usually result in a practical 'thing' that I can then use frequently. You write, you publish, it's done. With code, I often get to then use the result for (hopefully) years afterwards. And can improve upon it later.
I love seeing the whole structure of a project, made up of small parts and all fitting together.
I work full time in a non-profit org. as a programmer and A/V engineer. So a lot of my code is specifically related to our video production, events management, etc. So I get to see the rest of my team (and people at events) using my products. That's very satisfying.
I love learning. and so learning haskell, c, lisp, go, rust, etc. as well as improving my main working languages (Python & javascript) is fascinating. The ability to read one blog post, suddenly 'get' a concept, and feel as if my whole mind is bigger and my ability to think is clearer and mental model of things I can do is exponentially bigger is so exciting.
Thanks. That perfectly describes how I feel about programming.
The 2 reasons I love coding:
1. Making stuff. Maybe obvious, but there are very few other fields where you create stuff so freely and easily. And it's not just about being creative, it's also adding value in the stuff you make.
2. Problem solving. The same reason puzzles and riddles are fun. There's something satisfying about wrestling with a problem for some time and creating a correct solution.
As a result I don't really have a favourite field, as long as I can do the above points, I'm happy.
1. Making stuff. Maybe obvious, but there are very few other fields where you create stuff so freely and easily. And it's not just about being creative, it's also adding value in the stuff you make.
2. Problem solving. The same reason puzzles and riddles are fun. There's something satisfying about wrestling with a problem for some time and creating a correct solution.
As a result I don't really have a favourite field, as long as I can do the above points, I'm happy.
I second this, I was actually recently being asked about industries, and the quick answer in retrospect is the above. New Challenges all the time, even if you have a pattern that solves a problem there's always the minor details to figure out.
I'm just doing programming as a hobby right now, though slowly making my way towards getting some education in it...
I love being able to solve a problem. Figuring out how to do something, and then building it, fixing it as you figure out what's wrong with it is great.
I love being able to solve a problem. Figuring out how to do something, and then building it, fixing it as you figure out what's wrong with it is great.
That you can turn the regular investments you do in yourself: food + water + time, into a million dollar product, something that's impossible to do in almost every industry I can think of.
The ability to create whatever my heart desires.
So I want to ask - what do you love about programming? What field are you working in, and what do you like about it?
What makes you excited, what do you enjoy doing?