Some reasons why I love programming (long intro)

Let me preface this with the story of how I got started into programming.

So, I started dabbling in programming probably about 6 years ago. My friend, Zach, told me about it, and it peaked my interest. I thought it sounded fun. I was a little intimidated by the strict-typed object-oriented C#, so I decided I wanted to start with a scripting language that had "flexibility", so I started programming in Perl, haha.

I loved the idea that it was super flexible, and that I could say "Do it", and Perl would usually always comply.

I didn't use Perl too much. I made a few hello world applications, and my biggest project was a D&D character roller, haha. I eventually dropped Perl and took a break from programming. The language just wasn't for me, but it started something that would eventually change my life.

About 3 years later, I decided I wanted to look into programming again. I wanted a more structured language, so that I could eventually make the move to C#. Zach's friend Brad told me that I should check out Python. He said it was made to be read easily, was object-oriented, and was block structured, so it would be relatively easy to pick up on. I started messing with it, and loved it. It was really cool. I did a few hello world apps and then started messing with the TCL/TK widgets to create console-like applications. It was pretty fun.

About that time, I got a job working for my current company ( Clearwire ). I started as basic tech support. When I came on board, the company was a pretty small start-up company, and didn't have a lot of tools in place. I noticed that the process to notate a customer's account was very time consuming and not user-friendly, so I decided to make an application to help me do that. I wrote a very simple application in Python, using TCL/TK widgets to be my GUI. I didn't want to violate IT policy by installing Python on the machine, so at home, I used an application to compile Python into an executable and brought the executable to work with me the next day.

I began to notice that the application actually decreased my call handle time, which was awesome. A co-worker noticed the application and told upper management that they should check it out. Upper management looked at it, and thought it was cool. They even had plans to talk to IT to make the executable a standard in all the images for tech support partners.

Around this time, there was only one programmer for all of care. I'll call him John because I'm not sure he wants his name posted all over the internet ;P. So, John was tasked with finding someone else to help him do the programming for care because his work load was too intensive for him to handle by himself. The company was a start-up, so the demand on new tools was extremely high.

John interviewed me and two other candidates. During my interview, he asked me if I had any web application programming experience, to which I replied, "Well, I've messed around with basic HTML and CSS on my MySpace page, but other than that, no. I've only barely dabbled in Perl and Python." I walked out of that interview having completely bombed because I did not have the experience for what he needed.

Later on during the day, I approached John and told him that I knew I had bombed the interview, but rather than to go on just that, he should give me a chance to prove myself. See, I have a pretty high learning curve -- I pick up on things pretty quick, and I am able to think my way through programming logic, which is the part of programming that is the hardest, in my opinion.

He agreed, and he said "You know that application you created to help you document the calls you take? I want you to make that into a working web application by the end of the day." He sent me some example code to get me started. The basics on how to connect to a DB in ASP Classic, and a JS example on AJAX, and told me to do the rest. He didn't care if it was super pretty; he just wanted it to work.

I worked as hard as I could, Googling my butt off. Testing, debugging, testing, debugging, until I finally had a working application. I even managed to have the application talk to our documentation application and have it successfully post notes to the customer's account!

It had errors here and there, it was not efficient at all, and had a ton of overhead, but he saw the potential that I had-- I had learned enough ASP Classic, JavaScript, and SQL to make a semi-working application in less than 8 hours.

I wound up getting moved over into the programming position, and have been doing web application development for care for about 2 and a half years now.


Well, now that you know how I got started doing what I do, let me tell you why I love programming.

I love programming for many reasons, that would probably take me forever to type out. This is time I just don't have, so I'll try to limit it as best I can. (These are in no particular order)

1. I love programming because it's a fast-paced environment.
It really keeps me on my toes. As the company's needs change, so do the application's needs. I'm never bored and always busy. It's really fun.

2. There is a lot of awesome documentation.
There are some languages that aren't documented well, but for the most part, there is a lot of really cool and thorough documentation on languages. I'm almost always learning to be more efficient or use better conventions/practices. There's almost always someone out there who has done something I've done but better, and the best part is, they share it with the world! I have a chance to learn from them and implement some of their practices in my code, which makes MY applications run better and MY users happier!

3. The ability to express yourself in your applications.
This might be a little difficult for someone who's not a programmer to understand, but there is a level of elegance that comes with some programming. There's a freedom of expression. Everyone has their own particular style of coding, and it's very interesting to go through and examine different examples that they offer.

I know the intro was long, and the reasons short, and believe me, there are way more reasons why programming is fantastic, but those are just a few of the reasons I love programming. I'm not the best programmer by any means. I'm still young in the community and learning more and more every day, but maybe one day I'll be the guy that people use as examples. One can only hope! "Our rock stars are different from your rock stars" indeed!

I'll open this up to the floor, as well-- what are some reasons you love programming?