The Magic of Programming

I came upon coding almost 18 years ago. It wasn’t a big part of my life then, but it enticed me. I wanted to learn. Learn the ins and outs and start to create. I had wild ideas but I didn’t have the right knowledge to get my ideas into the world. The little bug lay dormant in my mind for 10 years before I finally made the decision to really look into learning the proper languages.

That bug lounged around in my head and would poke and prod what it could whenever it could. During that 10 years I attempted to create, those first sites were horrible websites that would have reached the tops of the “Most Horrible Site on the net” list. This turned into working on some basic themes for a third-rate blog site. It slowly grew on me how magical programming was.

“You’re a Programmer Harry.” That is pretty much what it is like. Developers pour over books and texts reading how others did this or that and figuring out the way the lines go together to get the end result. It is much like Harry Potter. With the proper spell book (programming language) we, as wizards (the developers), have the ability to create a spell (program) that describes exactly what we want to happen with the proper incantation (code). This is a fantastic way to look at it, but think about how a developer, with fingers waggling across the keys, can take a plain white browser window and turn it into a brilliant creation. However, it does take lots of time and patience to get the end result.

This is why I enjoy programming so much, I can lose myself within the streams of code flowing from fingers to screen. I constantly need to learn new and improved ways of doing things, and the magic I create is enjoyed by so many. I enjoy it so much that I try to get my kids to love it as well. The best part is that you don’t need to know anything special, and there are numerous resources, books, and people out there that can help when stuck.

Go on my friends, lose yourself in the magic of the code.

Written by Shawn B.