
Coding is not ‘fun’, it’s technically and ethically complex - prostoalex
https://aeon.co/ideas/coding-is-not-fun-it-s-technically-and-ethically-complex?utm_source=pocket&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pockethits
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schoen
I think there's a lot to this analysis, but it's common to try to interest
people in an activity by pointing out that it's fun, or that it can be fun. I
was just reading Wheelock's Latin this morning and he has a recurring section
in each chapter "Latina est gaudium - et utilis" ('Latin is fun - and
useful').

We do need more discussion about this. I met a professor who studies formal
methods and we discussed how we both got into programming because we enjoyed
it, but how making proofs of program correctness is rarely enjoyable in the
same way. (There might be moments of enjoyment, but also moments of tedium.)
This is challenging because we may need the formal methods to overcome the
plague of bugs and security vulnerabilities, but working that way may upend
our sense of what we feel the experience of programming _ought_ to be like.

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zerognowl
There is a certain satisfaction when a project is complete and polished, and
you can see all the smaller parts working in tandem to create something
functional and useful though.

I think a lot of baseline things are not sorted out early on before taking up
coding either as a hobby, or a profession.

The number one thing that has affected me personally is a lack of ergonomics
and ease-of-use. I mean I used to code straight for several hours 10 years ago
and my body could absorb such a hit. My mind can continue solving puzzles, but
the body eventually starts to wither and break.

I just can't do that now. I'm always experimenting with new physical ways to
code, playing with different setups. Standing desks, eye tracking mouses,
multiple screens, anything to take the load off my body and give me back that
'fingertip feel' I enjoyed 10 years ago.

