Understanding Programmers

**kuphryn** · 03-29-2003

Hi.

Check out this article at DevX by Bryan Dollery entitled "Understanding the Psychology of Programming."

http://www.devx.com/devx/editorial/11659

Isnt that "flow" state he describes the same as paradise or what?

Kuphryn

**Stoned_Coder** · 03-29-2003

well to be honest i would aliken "flow" more to coding while in the state of being mildy stoned. Not so battered you cant think but stoned enough to allow you to focus fully on what you are doing and cut out the general background noises etc that can ruin your train of thought. Its a good state for me to code in but what works for me wont necessarily work for others.When things are quiet and you are focussed then the code does just flow.

**~~Silvercord~~** · 03-29-2003

it says that because you are creating something, you are automatically an artist? It also says programmers aren't engineers...yeah...does this guy even do programming?

Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi of Chicago University, formerly the chair of the psychology department, has studied hundreds of exceptional individuals, from IT entrepreneurs to Nobel Prize winners, researching creativity. He has written many books and papers on the subjects of flow and creativity.

is the guy a friggin programmer?

This is a highly desirable state, both for the programmer herself and for the organization that profits by her labors.
...
That's an hour of lost productivity to your team. If a programmer is interrupted many times during the day she may never reach this state

it's a fact that most programmers are males

Making Flow ... uh, Flow

wake up call: you work for 8 hours a day, and you get a paycheck, and you don't necessarily have to be flowing or 'in the zone' or like any of it. you have to just shut the hell and do it so your employer doesn't fire you

this article is crap

**alpha** · 03-29-2003

Not all programmers are engineers though. Especially if the programmer has not taken the engineering boards. This applies to those already on the job field, and not to students. Students have yet to become engineers.

**~~Silvercord~~** · 03-29-2003

Students should be learning how to become engineers though. The guy in the article blatantly said writing code isn't engineering...that isn't true, you are engineering solutions to problems. Just because you are creating something doesn't necessarily mean you are an artist...but lets just assume you ARE an artist if you are a programmer, that doesn't mean you aren't an engineer...

Writing code is an act of creativity. It isn't science and it isn't engineering

EDIT:
and the guy isn't a programmer either

He's 'studied' them...

**alpha** · 03-29-2003

I didn't read the article. I probably will later when I get back. I agree, students should be learning to be engineers; I am. That quote you just posted though; programming to me is a science, and is engineering when applied to engineering. But there are programmers that do not have the official title of engineer. But I agree, a lot of engineering goes into developing solutions.

**beege31337** · 03-29-2003

Some programmers aren't engineers; they just haphazardly produce bad code in a "creative" fashion. Now-a-days, companies recognize that these are not the types of programmers you want to hire.
Any good programmer sees programming as an engineering task.

**kuphryn** · 03-29-2003

Yes, that artcle is definitely right-on!

In summation:

-Give every programmer his/her own private room!
-Programmers may seem "high" sometimes. That is because they are analyzing complex problems.
-Leave programmers alone!
-"flow" state is every programmer's paradise!

Kuphryn

**adrianxw** · 03-29-2003

>>>
both for the programmer herself and for the organization that profits by her labors.
<<<

>>>
If a programmer's flow is interrupted it can take a large amount of time for her to regain the state,
<<<

>>>
interrupted many times during the day she may never reach this state.
<<<

I gave up quoting, the author has a point, but is an idiot and has a sex problem.

**joshdick** · 03-29-2003

Originally posted by beege31337
Some programmers aren't engineers; they just haphazardly produce bad code in a "creative" fashion. Now-a-days, companies recognize that these are not the types of programmers you want to hire.
Any good programmer sees programming as an engineering task.

I disagree. The same problem assigned to my programming class will yield a different result from each student. The reason for this is because programs are creative works, much like mathematical proofs. It requires abstract, logical thinking mixed with personal creativity. Without creative, new ideas, only stale code would be produced. I hear programmers talk about 'elegant solutions' to their problems all the time. That is because good programming isn't just about banging out a solution to a problem; it's about finding the best, most elegant, yet practical, solution. Oftentimes while coding, I get a little fustrated and find myself in a mental dead-end, so I walk around and talk to my classmates. When I get back to my computer, I suddenly see the problem in a new and better light and am then able to code out a great solution. This is yet another piece of evidence that shows how creative the coding process is.

I agree with the author that programming is not a science (although computer science definitely is). The reason is simple, the scientific process is not employed while coding; thus, coding is not a science. Programmers are more like artists, logicians, and mathematicians than scientists or engineers.

My only complaint with that article was that the author used feminine pronouns exclusively. If he really studied that many programmers, he should've noticed that practically all of them were male. I say that not suggesting anything more than the fact that men largely dominate the programming industry whether that is good, bad, or indifferent. My guess is that someone involved in the writing or editing of that article was trying to be too politically correct.

Besides that obvious problem, I enjoyed the article. I appreciate the amount of freedom my programming teacher gives us. We may walk and talk about the class as we please. We also (generally) have a great deal of freedom over how we design our programs. In addition, he usually plays some good music while we code. He says we shouldn't feel like we're coding in a vacuum. I believe all of those things have positively affected the quality of our code.

One last thing, because this article mentions psychology, I'm going to print it out and take it to my AP Psych teacher for bonus points

Unregd · 03-29-2003

It looks like Dr. Evil has poorly disguised himself (moustache, gotee, glasses) and started writing articles under the pen name Bryan Dollary. I guess since conquering the world was a failure for him, he thought he could change what programming is all about.

Yeah, make the programmers comfortable so they code smarter. Brilliant, Dr. Evil. I guess you did learn something at Evil Medical School after all. But programming not being primarily about engineering? Dr. Evil obviously didn't minor in software engineering!

**Xei** · 03-29-2003

Yea, and next time that one of us might be 'programming' an autopilot for an aircraft... I'll make sure that it's real artistic.

IF any of you buy this book, please inform us so that we can kick your ass.

**incognito** · 03-29-2003

See guys I know what the problem is he meant Graphics Designers not programmers....j/k

...though I think you have to creative, but something about programmers not resembling engineers bothers me.

**JaWiB** · 03-29-2003

"All programmers are playwrights and all computers are lousy actors."

**RoD** · 03-30-2003

>>IF any of you buy this book, please inform us so that we can kick your ass.

<echo>

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