[~ot] why is programming so fun?

[Gregor Richards]

BCS wrote:
> I can't remember where, but I recall hearing that people are most 
> effectively motivated to do something by giving them random rewards for 
> the doing what you want (only reward them some of the time). This sounds 
> kind of like the software development process, particularly when working 
> on the hairy edge of your ability or when "hacking it" without a real 
> design.
> 
> Might this explain why this development style is so prevalent? Also it 
> would tend to indicate that for a language to be successful, it should 
> make it easier to get the last little bit working by just trying it 
> rather than by thinking it out all the way. This would be because it 
> will provide a bit of randomness ("I think this will compile") in the 
> reward ("Ah! yes it did").
> 
> 

I'm very stringent in my programming practice. I never hack systems 
together, I always spend time (often weeks or months) designing things 
in my head before I write a single line of code. That's just my nature. 
However, I still get a great thrill of accomplishment when I finish 
writing something.

A result of this mentality is that I very rarely fail to accomplish what 
I've intended to, since anything beyond my abilities or that I would 
burn out on is usually scrapped before I've even written anything down. 
By the time I'm actually writing the code, the code itself is a menial task.

A negative result is that I don't like maintenance :)

The point is, I get a very consistent reward from programming because of 
my more stringent programming practice, but I don't do this /for the 
reward/, I do it because it's how I think. This leads me to believe that 
the usual hack-it-together standard comes from a mentality, not a 
feedback loop.

  - Gregor Richards