Could You Explain Programming Please

apetrelli · 2008-01-04

In fact I have the opposite problem: I have to justify what I do with computers as a programmer. What I mean is this:

No programming-illiterate people understands the difference from using a program and making one. This kind of people usually think that Word has been created by God.
As a computer expert, you should usually know how to repair a TV-set or a HiFi.

2008-01-04

That's a nice variation on the kind of calls I constantly get from my family: "You're a computer programmer, right? Could you fix my printer?" ...

2008-01-04

I have a similar experience:

him: Do you have some book on programming?

me: I do. Take this Delphi book. It is fairly simple and should be easy to start with.

him: Ok, thanks. And what language do I do the programming in? (Note: we are not native English speakers)

me: Umm, Delphi. It actually is a mutation of Pascal.

him: Oh no, I don't mean program, I mean language, do I need to program in English or can it be Czech?

me: I am not sure what you mean. Some Pascal keywords resemble English, yes. But you can use whatever language you want for naming variables for example.

him: Keywords? Variables? ...

me: (Explaining what programming actually is)

him: Oh, I thought I would write something like: "Create football stadium and football players. Start the game when user presses spacebar. Make players have red shirts and white socks."

2008-01-04

Well, nothing stops you from creating a program like this:

void main() { CreateFootballStadiumAndFootballPlayers(); StartTheGameWhenUserPressesSpacebar(); MakePlayersHaveRedShirtsAndWhiteSocks(); }

Oh yes, you will have to define these three methods an put some code on them, but that's a minor issue. X-D

2008-01-04

Usually when someone starts the conversation with "are you good with computers?", I expect it to go downhill.

2008-01-04

He created a text file with the words "Morph the screen into something cool" and couldn't figure out how to run it

Well I see the problem! He SHOULD have written "Morph the screen into something cool;" - you need a semi-colon at the end of the command. :-)

Could You Explain Programming Please

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