>> Programming has an addictive component that is very strong. As you get better you gain more expressive power, you can do more complicated things than you could do before, solve more complex problems.
and
> > It's like a drug. I'm still fascinated by it, even almost 30 years to the day later I still read about languages, new ways to solve old problems, all kinds of developments in software and hardware as though it is the first time that I hear about these things.
It is like a drug. I think our brains fire off the same pleasure inducing endorphins when we figure something out or learn something new. And it happens so much in programming: you implement something old in a new way and you get a little buzz, you squash a bug that's been getting to you for a period of time and you get a bigger buzz. I think curiosity when we were little got us interested, but ever since we, or at least I, have been a junky. I sometimes wonder how my life would be different if, by chance, I would have gotten addicted to something else. There's so many things to get addicted to these days.
my other drug of choice is mathematics. the highs are higher, but they take a lot longer to reach. programming gives you rewards almost instantly.
and
> > It's like a drug. I'm still fascinated by it, even almost 30 years to the day later I still read about languages, new ways to solve old problems, all kinds of developments in software and hardware as though it is the first time that I hear about these things.
It is like a drug. I think our brains fire off the same pleasure inducing endorphins when we figure something out or learn something new. And it happens so much in programming: you implement something old in a new way and you get a little buzz, you squash a bug that's been getting to you for a period of time and you get a bigger buzz. I think curiosity when we were little got us interested, but ever since we, or at least I, have been a junky. I sometimes wonder how my life would be different if, by chance, I would have gotten addicted to something else. There's so many things to get addicted to these days.
my other drug of choice is mathematics. the highs are higher, but they take a lot longer to reach. programming gives you rewards almost instantly.