Programming for fun and profit

Originally Posted by Govtcheez

> Actually I think it's fun. Hopefully I'll be able to do it for profit one day... Programming I mean.

If you're the only one in your area that does it, there's no reason you can't do it for profit now.

Yeah, but I'm at school now, far away from my hometown. When I go home I do spend some time helping people fix their computers. My last trip was filled with adware/spyware scans, installing firefox,thunderbird and what not...
That's a good idea though. I should find out if any business back home need some custom software... I tried convincing the grocery store in town that it should have a website, and that I could build it for them. But they said they didn't need one... You know, with most of the homes not having internet or even computers... Eh, what can you do.

When I was deciding how to earn an income, programming was the best combination of being fun and being easy.

Originally Posted by jlou

...was the best combination of being fun and being easy.

really...

I program because programmers are more l33t than networkers... those illiterate grunts...


idk... I just found logic very interesting at a young age, and then one math teacher suggested programming, but I brushed the suggestion aside. then I learned a little HTML and found it cool that now I could do those kinds of things with computers, and came to the realization that I already knew alot more about computers than alot of other people.

then I jumped into C++ and read tutorials up past classes, and had no clue what I was doing. then after a day of a formal C++ class, I was doing functions before they were doing variables, and by the end of the class I was touching on inheritance and polymorphism while they were doing basic functions.

since then, the science behind programming has kept me here... and I still feel sorry for everybody who just learns in class and never goes out of their way to try to get a better understanding of (any) language or how a piece of code we're taught works. people still get annoyed at me when I take 20 minutes drilling the instructor for answers on how a particular algorithm works and why it's better (or sometimes not better, for example or compared to orElse in Visual Basic.NET)...

When my world domination plans failed ( bet that was you Prelude... always wanted that pesky world for yourself, didn't you ? :P ) I changed the means and subjugated some helpless machines instead. Way easier, way more fun *presses-Alt-F4-to-see-a-harmless-app-scream-and-die* muahahahaha...

It was something where you worked in airconditioned comfort, got free caffeine and there was very little chance of getting blood/spew on your clothes.

hm, I don't have aircondition and I don't have free caffeine. Very little blood up to now though...

Originally Posted by Prelude

>Didn't you say one time that one of your reasons for breaking up was that you were a better programmer and he was jealous?
Something along those lines, yes.

incredible ...
i used to think programming is a job for man.

>>> very little chance of getting blood/spew on your clothes.

Tip, avoid the medical equipment business. Been there, done that, stains on the T-shirt.

Originally Posted by Hermitsky

incredible ...
i used to think programming is a job for man.

SEXIST PIG!

Actually, I know some very good female programmers. And one hot one

I learned to program in order to create games. But that pursuit has led me into a lot of areas in programming. While I was at a college studying a totally different field I taught myself C/C++. Prior to college I had already mastered BASIC and realized that the language just didnt have enough power to do what I wanted.

But the pursuit so far has taken me from BASIC to C/C++ to assembly to Direct3D, sound programming (both DX and DOS), OS development, etc., etc.

I guess I like to know how the whole thing works so saying I'm in it just for games is not entirely true...as many of my posts here would indicate.

So far I've not done any of it professionally although hopefully that is about to change. Watching your code control really big machines and/or a manufacturing process is quite satisfying.

Originally Posted by ober

Actually, I know some very good female programmers. And one hot one

stop hitting on prelude already

I learned programming actually fairly late in the game here, started when I was about 18 or 19. I'm about 25 now, so I've been poking at code for a while, but didn't become serious at it until recently. Computers always fascinated me, and so I found myself working with them as much as I could and finding that I liked programming... creating my own software very fun and intriguing for me. So anyway, I do it for the pay(professionally) yes, but I also do it because I like to program, its like learning a new language, and to me learning something new is always fun.

I couldn't figure out why the people in IT at work couldn't access the information we non-IT people wanted. So I started learning about their language(s)/tools. Eventually I found out about free compilers for C/C++ and started writing some simple stuff on my own. Now I understand a lot more about what they do and how I can better communicate with them, which is good because our business is becoming more and more dependent on digital information. On top of that, I've found that programming is a very satisfying hobby, though it won't replace my "real" job.

Originally Posted by kermi3

All my friends were doing it.

you've never programmed a day in your life, ADMIT IT!

Originally Posted by major_small

stop hitting on prelude already

Actually, I wasn't. So I guess that makes 2. I was actually referring to a girl I went to college with. GC can back up any claims I make.