On: I Am Not a Reverse Centaur

[jrm4]

I do a bit in my IT classes where I show a "spectrum" of computer activities, from "changing a screensaver" to "Assembly" and then challenge people to find the line where "using a computer" stops and "programming a computer" starts.

It was already very fuzzy (Excel?). Soon, this line be non-existent.

[skydhash → jrm4]

As soon as you’re specifying instructions for the computer to do a task automatically, you’re programming it. It can be recording a macro, writing a script, describing it in something like Shortcuts,… The core thing is automation.

[jrm4 → skydhash]

Not convinced this is clear at all? I'm typing a document in, lets say -- word.

I want it to say "Come to my awesome awesome awesome party."

If I type it out, it's not programming, but if I ctrl-c + then ctrl-v twice, it is?

[skydhash → jrm4]

Copy-pasting is not programming, no more than clicking the save button is. But text expansion may be seen as such, especially when it involves dynamic elements (like current date and time). It may not be a clean delineation but, IMO, it's the difference between writing a recipe and doing the dish. Copy-pasting twice is making a dish. Creating a button that let the computer do it is writing a recipe.