Is Programming That Easy?
4 pointsby ghassenfaidi2 hours ago3 comments
  • tomxor2 hours ago
    You're not wrong, It's only the easy part in hindsight once you know most of the nuts and bolts, because then it's the endless journey of intractable abstract problems and to some degree even more philosophical and ideological problems that sit atop programming.

    That doesn't make starting out any easier though, and we do forget that.

    I suppose the core difference is the skill of programming itself has more of an end point, even if that end point is a little fuzzy

  • iagiagiagan hour ago
    I'm not sure this sentence actually means it's technically easy. Obviously it depends on the program, making a simple web page is not the same as building an MMORPG. But other aspects of development can be often overlooked by programmers, like software design. Or like marketing, selling the project you did.

    Programming was never the hard part for experienced programmers. And now that AI "solved" it, these programmers still face the same challenges they faced before.

  • spottedmarleyan hour ago
    Coding isn't the hard part, it's the challenging part, so if you enjoy the challenge then it's easy, otherwise it can seem like the hard part.
    • ghassenfaidian hour ago
      > "Coding isn't the hard part, it's the challenging part"

      So what you're saying that it's a challenging part but not the hardest part? If so, that sounds fair as a take to me. But I don't get your point about "if you enjoy the challenge then it's easy". And It feels to me it's the opposite. You'd only start enjoying it once you've spend a lot of time practicing and honing your skills. (and I don't think it's that fun, it's like... 5% of the time fun? i.e. when you suddenly understand a bug or something or when all of tests pass in TDD)

      • yepyouknoan hour ago
        It’s like being a mechanic. You either “like” fixing things and making it go or it’s all just a greasy mess that pays your bills.
        • ghassenfaidian hour ago
          I can picture in my mind the image of a mechanic that likes and enjoys fixing things. But I do wonder how much of it is real joy. At the end of the day what drives most people is that they want to satisfytheir human needs. bring food to the table. That's life for most people on Earth, then can find meaning elsewhere. And even those who are "passionate", as I said, I do wonder how much of it is pure fun. I asked doctors and engineers about this before, many of them don't feel the constant passion that I see in the picture I imagined. Again, it's a small percentage of the time. When you see a happy patient, when things go as expected, when the final test passes... But what drives most people isn't passion. It's responsiblities and satisfying human needs. And can probably become a great software engineer without falling in love with programming. I'm probably over-analysing what you said though, I do get what you say.