

When non-programmers write software - Ultrapreneur
http://www.steventalcottsmith.com/2007/3/9/when-non-programmers-write-software

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geebee
software is an interesting business, in that you don't have to ask anyone's
permission, and there's no real way to know if someone is a real programmer, a
fake programmer, or a non-programmer aside from looking at the code and
applications they have written/created.

Does it make sense to speak of "non-programmers who write software?" In some
ways, it seems like the act of writing software is exactly what makes a person
a programmer.

I'm not trying to play games here - I do understand what the writer here is
getting at. People who have no background in software, somehow muddling their
way into an application, for better or for worse.

But after a while, that ballet dancer who wrote his own ticketing app, or that
lawyer who wrote his own billing app,... they become programmers. Maybe bad
ones, but programmers nonetheless.

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danprager
There is an echo in the article of Christopher Alexander's view that
architects -- professional house designers -- tend to generally make less
functional choices in house design than people who design their own homes. The
architect's goals may include a desire to produce something that looks
stylish, but (s)he does not have to live in the result.

In the case of custom software development -- also home design -- the happy
medium surely involves the professional working closely _with_ the client.

OTOH if you have sufficient skills and the time to combine both roles I say:
Go ahead and enjoy the ride.

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kcl
Pleasant article. It's easy to relate to the feeling of wonderment the non-
programmers have, since, in a sense, on our first big project we're all non-
programmers. I wish I could generate the amount of code I used to in those
days.

The problem now isn't overcoming the language, or figuring out what to do,
it's staying focused on what's really the same boring implementation you've
been doing since the beginning. I know exactly what my next thousand lines of
code are going to be. I just can't bring myself to sit down and type them out
for hours on end.

~~~
geebee
<I know exactly what my next thousand lines of code are going to be. I just
can't bring myself to sit down and type them out for hours on end.>

What are you writing in? I felt exactly the way you just described when I was
doing a lot of CRUD in Java. If you are experiencing this coding malaise, the
kind where you've done your thinking and you know exactly what your fingers
are going to be tapping for the next 12 hours, your tools are truly letting
you down.

Your tools are also putting you in danger, because somewhere out there, a
competitor is using a better set of tools to finish the task in a tenth of the
time and move on, with better motivation as well.

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cellis
on the other hand, this is actually good for the economy, in my opinion. It
shows that programming is a skill that everyone, and I do mean everyone,
should learn.

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jimbokun
Maybe the most important part of the article for would be straight, single,
male ycombinators is this:

"I mentioned by way of contrast that I am in the "software business." Now, I
love what I do for a living, but really, generally speaking, the occupation
does not bring me into contact with a lot of attractive and available young
women. It is nothing like, say, being a photographer, a marketing or media
exec, a fashion designer, a yoga instructor or a lifeguard. There are probably
a hundred other such occupations. Better than all of them must be, "straight
male ballet dancer" or running a dance company."

Maybe you should all be starting your own dance company instead of a software
start up?

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davidw
Yeah... I agree, you just don't want to get stuck cleaning up the mess
afterwards. It's not rewarding work.

