programming is war
Jul. 12th, 2012 12:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
subpixeli tried, multiple times, to write something here about the nature of my interaction with computers and religion, about how i am a supplicant to the gods of ghc and javascript or how programming is a near-mystic experience. but the truth is that it isn't; for me, programming is a puzzle. there is a way to get this hunk of aluminum and semiconductors to rearrange its state into a desirable configuration, and i just have to figure out what that way is. there is no mysticism in it, simply a battle: me against the universe.
it's not one i completely win, of course; sometimes i lose, and even when i win often my product has scars to show, edge cases that don't quite work as they should (though when i fight with heavy weights on my ankles and arms i find that though my punches are slow to come, more often than not they strike true. when i use lighter languages, strike with blows that come as fast as i can type them, i miss far more. i'm still unsure which approach is *better*, but i prefer to be slow and powerful. i find it more pleasant to *know* that i am likely to hit the mark.)
but regardless of whether i win or lose, the fight is usually enjoyable. and even when i lose, i can always recoup. the battle is lost, but the war still has another good sixty-aught years or so. and in this there will be new techniques, new kicks and dodges and punches for others to develop and for me to learn.
of course, the universe will simply fight me in new and interesting ways the likes of which i cannot possibly forsee. but i knew from the start that i would ultimately lose the war. all i can do, all any of us can do, is hope to make it as enjoyable as possible.
it's not one i completely win, of course; sometimes i lose, and even when i win often my product has scars to show, edge cases that don't quite work as they should (though when i fight with heavy weights on my ankles and arms i find that though my punches are slow to come, more often than not they strike true. when i use lighter languages, strike with blows that come as fast as i can type them, i miss far more. i'm still unsure which approach is *better*, but i prefer to be slow and powerful. i find it more pleasant to *know* that i am likely to hit the mark.)
but regardless of whether i win or lose, the fight is usually enjoyable. and even when i lose, i can always recoup. the battle is lost, but the war still has another good sixty-aught years or so. and in this there will be new techniques, new kicks and dodges and punches for others to develop and for me to learn.
of course, the universe will simply fight me in new and interesting ways the likes of which i cannot possibly forsee. but i knew from the start that i would ultimately lose the war. all i can do, all any of us can do, is hope to make it as enjoyable as possible.
