Burn the Programmer

#1

Post by thenomad » Fri, Nov 10, 2017, 3:36 PM UTC

Re: Burn the Programmer

#2

Post by jtmarmon » Fri, Nov 10, 2017, 4:10 PM UTC

interesting premise in the article but masked by horrible writing. i had to reread this multiple times to understand the point of it. the transition from talking about VR to programming was incredibly vague.

Re: Burn the Programmer

#3

Post by marsrover » Fri, Nov 10, 2017, 4:17 PM UTC

You know, us programmers like to refer to ourselves as wizards but I really wonder if non-programmers think the same or is it just like any other profession they're not knowledgeable of? I don't know anything about chemical engineering but I've never considered chemical engineers to be magical.

I do like thinking of myself as a wizard, though.

Re: Burn the Programmer

#4

Post by moron4hire » Fri, Nov 10, 2017, 4:20 PM UTC

jtmarmon wrote: post #2

interesting premise in the article but masked by horrible writing. i had to reread this multiple times to understand the point of it. the transition from talking about VR to programming was incredibly vague.

I disagree. I thought it was very clear and concise.

Re: Burn the Programmer

#5

Post by jvagner » Fri, Nov 10, 2017, 4:20 PM UTC

marsrover wrote: post #3

You know, us programmers like to refer to ourselves as wizards but I really wonder if non-programmers think the same or is it just like any other profession they're not knowledgeable of? I don't know anything about chemical engineering but I've never considered chemical engineers to be magical. I do like thinking of myself as a wizard, though.

have you met any designers?

Re: Burn the Programmer

#6

Post by yetihehe » Fri, Nov 10, 2017, 4:20 PM UTC

marsrover wrote: post #3

You know, us programmers like to refer to ourselves as wizards but I really wonder if non-programmers think the same or is it just like any other profession they're not knowledgeable of? I don't know anything about chemical engineering but I've never considered chemical engineers to be magical. I do like thinking of myself as a wizard, though.

It depends on what those "wizards" do. If it's just making some formula in spreadsheet work, it's not too awesome. If it's stopping time[1], that might be more "magical".

[1] https://hackaday.com/2017/11/09/stop-motion-with-the-time-gl...

Re: Burn the Programmer

#7

Post by throwanem » Fri, Nov 10, 2017, 4:21 PM UTC

Getting hit pretty hard. To very briefly summarize, the article reviews an occasional trope in writing about our field, namely that it has some interesting correspondences with old-style conceptions of magic - from hermitical study of certain esoterica granting access to powers and principalities beyond the ordinary ken, through potentially hostile reaction to same among those lacking such secret knowledge and frightened by the prospect of a world increasingly founded on it, to "do not call up what you cannot put down" in the context of modern AI and ML research and the applications thereof.

Re: Burn the Programmer

#8

Post by gallerdude » Fri, Nov 10, 2017, 4:23 PM UTC

When I was a preteen, I'd watch Notch's ld48 programming streams, and I'd just be confused. I had read the basics of if-statements, for-loops, and functions, but he was using them in a way beyond my comprehension.

Later I discovered MIT's Scratch, and it let me figure things out on my own: games, physics, genetic algorithms.

I think programming is portrayed to be more difficult than it is. It's a mixture between programmers trying to find the most efficient system, and the public's half-uncertainty of computers being magnified.

Re: Burn the Programmer

#9

Post by toomuchtodo » Fri, Nov 10, 2017, 4:24 PM UTC

yetihehe wrote: post #6

marsrover wrote: post #3

You know, us programmers like to refer to ourselves as wizards but I really wonder if non-programmers think the same or is it just like any other profession they're not knowledgeable of? I don't know anything about chemical engineering but I've never considered chemical engineers to be magical. I do like thinking of myself as a wizard, though.

It depends on what those "wizards" do. If it's just making some formula in spreadsheet work, it's not too awesome. If it's stopping time[1], that might be more "magical". [1] https://hackaday.com/2017/11/09/stop-motion-with-the-time-gl...

> If it's just making some formula in spreadsheet work

Excel functionality is on part with some programming languages.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nbkaYsR94c

Re: Burn the Programmer

#10

Post by stryan » Fri, Nov 10, 2017, 4:27 PM UTC

Considering how many programming abstractions most programmers work above now, I'd say it's more like magic now then ever before. Draw the circle (add the boiler plate code), recite the words (dig up the proper API method), perform the gestures (compile with certain flags) and your spell (desktop app) will work. If you don't, it'll do nothing or worse, blow up in your face.

As a side note, if anyone's interested in looking a bit more into "programming as magic" there's a great book series called The Wizardry series about programmers being transported into a fantasy realm where magic works similarly to a programming language. The main character ends up writing a compiler based off (IIRC) APL and revolutionizes magic. The first book is called Wizard's Bane and it's light and fun reading.