From: jnc@mercury.lcs.mit.edu (Noel Chiappa)
Subject: [TUHS] Were all of you.. Hippies?
Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2017 12:22:52 -0400 (EDT) [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20170323162252.273B818C096@mercury.lcs.mit.edu> (raw)
> From: Nick Downing
> Programming is actually an addiction.
_Can be_ an addition. A lot of people are immune... :-)
> What makes it addictive to a certain type of personality is that little
> rush of satisfaction when you try your code and it *works*... ... It was
> not just the convenience and productivity improvements but that the
> 'hit' was coming harder and faster.
Joe Weizenbaum wrote about the addiction of programming in his famous book
"Computer Power and Human Reason" (Chapter 4, "Science and the Compulsive
Programmer"). He attributes it to the sense of power one gets, working in a
'world' where things do exactly what you tell them. There might be something
to that, but I suspect your supposition is more likely.
> This theory is well known to those who design slot machines and other
> forms of gambling
Oddly enough, he also analogizes to gamblers!
Noel
next reply other threads:[~2017-03-23 16:22 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 90+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2017-03-23 16:22 Noel Chiappa [this message]
2017-03-23 23:40 ` Wesley Parish
-- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2017-03-27 3:36 Doug McIlroy
2017-03-26 3:32 Noel Chiappa
2017-03-26 3:51 ` Dan Cross
2017-03-26 11:31 ` Ron Natalie
2017-03-26 22:06 ` Larry McVoy
2017-03-26 23:29 ` Wesley Parish
2017-03-27 4:20 ` Dave Horsfall
2017-03-26 4:31 ` Warner Losh
2017-03-26 3:11 Noel Chiappa
2017-03-26 3:17 ` Andrew Warkentin
2017-03-26 3:21 ` Kurt H Maier
2017-03-26 3:49 ` Dan Cross
2017-03-26 3:55 ` ron minnich
2017-03-26 16:26 ` Lyndon Nerenberg
2017-03-26 16:40 ` Larry McVoy
2017-03-26 18:35 ` Steve Simon
2017-03-26 20:05 ` Andy Kosela
2017-03-26 1:35 Noel Chiappa
2017-03-26 1:45 ` Kurt H Maier
[not found] ` <CAH1jEzb=ZzPMT6YWg9pbR4T=s_ckB4YFsBJnefj8AEatdBY_MQ@mail.gmail.com>
2017-03-26 4:46 ` Nick Downing
2017-03-26 2:49 ` ron minnich
2017-03-26 3:01 ` Andrew Warkentin
2017-03-26 1:16 Noel Chiappa
2017-03-24 13:41 Noel Chiappa
2017-03-22 17:49 Noel Chiappa
2017-03-22 22:35 ` Nick Downing
2017-03-23 8:56 ` shawn wilson
2017-03-23 13:13 ` Chet Ramey
2017-03-23 14:00 ` Tim Bradshaw
2017-03-20 23:28 Doug McIlroy
[not found] ` <CAH_OBifeRyD__=TKTa=bMtFBMg9LsrCOyB+sSrO54Ezc-+zJbw@mail.gmail.com>
2017-03-21 1:24 ` shawn wilson
2017-03-21 16:20 ` Ron Natalie
2017-03-21 1:45 ` Derrik Walker v2.0
2017-03-20 22:17 Noel Chiappa
2017-03-21 12:19 ` Steffen Nurpmeso
2017-03-21 12:48 ` arnold
2017-03-21 13:29 ` Jason Stevens
2017-03-23 10:13 ` Steffen Nurpmeso
2017-03-23 12:08 ` Jason Stevens
2017-03-20 21:48 Steffen Nurpmeso
2017-03-20 22:10 ` Dave Horsfall
2017-03-20 22:32 ` Ron Natalie
2017-03-20 23:05 ` ron minnich
2017-03-21 2:51 ` Nick Downing
2017-03-21 20:28 ` Josh Good
2017-03-23 20:18 ` Michael Parson
2017-03-23 20:51 ` ron minnich
2017-03-24 0:18 ` Josh Good
2017-03-24 0:27 ` Larry McVoy
2017-03-24 1:03 ` ron minnich
2017-03-24 1:05 ` Larry McVoy
2017-03-24 2:33 ` Andrew Warkentin
2017-03-24 5:17 ` Random832
2017-03-24 5:37 ` Erik E. Fair
2017-03-24 13:33 ` Random832
[not found] ` <20170324034915.GA23802@mcvoy.com>
2017-03-25 0:41 ` Andrew Warkentin
2017-03-25 5:01 ` Random832
2017-03-25 12:48 ` Andrew Warkentin
2017-03-24 5:14 ` Random832
2017-03-24 6:06 ` ron minnich
2017-03-25 0:02 ` Dave Horsfall
2017-03-25 0:42 ` Toby Thain
2017-03-24 7:23 ` shawn wilson
2017-03-24 23:55 ` Josh Good
2017-03-25 3:55 ` ron minnich
2017-03-25 4:52 ` Steve Johnson
2017-03-25 13:48 ` Jason Stevens
2017-03-25 18:51 ` Clem Cole
2017-03-25 22:26 ` Josh Good
2017-03-26 2:52 ` Clem Cole
2017-03-24 10:21 ` Tim Bradshaw
2017-03-24 13:55 ` Random832
2017-03-24 14:53 ` Tim Bradshaw
2017-03-24 2:33 ` Dan Cross
2017-03-24 3:53 ` Clem Cole
2017-03-24 7:15 ` shawn wilson
2017-03-24 7:37 ` Kurt H Maier
2017-03-24 8:06 ` shawn wilson
2017-03-24 15:22 ` Dan Cross
[not found] ` <CALMnNGj6jcM5E1jJtxSnhnyQPBV7Hn4B06=tm1vv0TfKV=Bs1A@mail.gmail.com>
2017-03-24 22:09 ` Dan Cross
2017-03-24 15:34 ` Chet Ramey
2017-03-24 15:30 ` Chet Ramey
2017-03-24 17:09 ` Kurt H Maier
2017-03-20 23:08 ` Dave Horsfall
2017-03-21 0:10 ` Dan Cross
2017-03-21 2:09 ` Dave Horsfall
2017-03-22 12:50 ` Tim Bradshaw
2017-03-22 15:27 ` Dave Horsfall
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