Why is programming so captivating, yet so agonizing?

bodge5000•24 minutes ago

Aside from the human side of it which is often nothing to do with programming itself, I'd say anything that is captivating is only so because its agonizing. If you have a problem to solve and instantly know the solution, there was no problem, just manual labour left not done (using that in the most technical sense). Solving problems is captivating, but it has to be hard or there'd be no problem at all.

jackling•17 minutes ago

Yea solving hard problems can be quite enjoyable, but can easily become a burden on your mind/body over time. When you're clearly making progress, then everything feels wonderful even if it's challenging. But when you're stuck, when your code/model isn't working as designed, if there is a clear gap between your current state of understanding and the amount required to solve the problem effectively, then you can fall quickly into despair. It's made worse when you see others doing similar work to what you do, but being far more successful at it. And made even worse, when you tie parts of your identity to the problem you're trying to solve, and the code you write. But that's the nature of what you're trying to do, so it isn't all bad.

game_the0ry•30 minutes ago

The only things I find agonizing about programming:

1. unrealistic time frames and expectations from non-technical managers, and

2. leetcode

Everything else is awesome.

RattlesnakeJake•15 minutes ago

3. "Best Practices" having changed every time I go back to the frontend

pixl97•14 minutes ago

We should just call it "current practices", there is very little best in frontend.

classified•13 minutes ago

Nah, I have another one: Being confronted with my own stupidity and my own limits in mental capacity. The shocking thing is that this never goes away, even after decades of practice.

swader999•about 1 hour ago

Because you get to solve real problems people have. But you have to work with real people.

BadBadJellyBean•about 1 hour ago

I never found programming agonizing.

tombert•about 1 hour ago

I mostly find programming fun, I’ve been doing it most of my life, but I will admit that engineering can be pretty agonizing. I enjoy the stuff, I enjoy the algorithmic stuff, and I enjoy implementing the math and algorithms, but that’s only about half of any programming job I have had.

I derive zero enjoyment from Kubernetes configs, or Terraform, or fucking around with log settings, or screwing around with all the knobs for Kafka. That stuff is agonizing.

skydhash•30 minutes ago

> I derive zero enjoyment from Kubernetes configs, or Terraform, or fucking around with log settings, or screwing around with all the knobs for Kafka. That stuff is agonizing.

The click for me was thinking in terms of outcomes and system dynamics. So I make sure to get a good understanding of the final state. Tweaking without a goal is just playing around, or joyless work if you do not enjoy the process.

tombert•21 minutes ago

I suppose.

I guess programming to me was always an excuse to do math, not necessarily to build products.

marginalia_nu•about 1 hour ago

Yeah same. I've been doing this for fun since I was like 9 years old. 30 years later it's still fun.

giancarlostoro•about 1 hour ago

You must not talk to other developers ;)

But seriously, sometimes its not the code, it's the human factor that's painful, other times, well it's JavaScript.

RattlesnakeJake•11 minutes ago

Or at least the culture around JavaScript .

I love writing JavaScript. I like React well enough. I'm not sold on NodeJS, though I'll accept that its struggles are no different than any other package manager.

I just wish the whole thing would stand still for a minute. It's seriously exhausting to keep up with all of the deprecations, rewrites, new "best" frameworks, etc.

Why is programming so captivating, yet so agonizing?

⚡ Community Insights

Discussion (15 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews