23 Mar
2017
23 Mar
'17
5:22 p.m.
From: Nick Downing
Programming is actually an addiction.
_Can be_ an addition. A lot of people are immune... :-)
What makes it addictive to a certain type of
personality is that little
rush of satisfaction when you try your code and it *works*... ... It was
not just the convenience and productivity improvements but that the
'hit' was coming harder and faster.
Joe Weizenbaum wrote about the addiction of programming in his famous book
"Computer Power and Human Reason" (Chapter 4, "Science and the Compulsive
Programmer"). He attributes it to the sense of power one gets, working in a
'world' where things do exactly what you tell them. There might be something
to that, but I suspect your supposition is more likely.
This theory is well known to those who design slot
machines and other
forms of gambling
Oddly enough, he also analogizes to gamblers!
Noel