(Backdated) Perl and the meaning of life
I just took some money out from the bank and instinctively walked into town, while conciously avoiding buying anything. I 'should' be working on my Physics coursework, I could do it now actually (I have the specification PDF on this handheld), but I feel like writing.
I've had a really good few weeks at university, dispite illness putting me a bit behind in my work (mostly caught up on now). I've met people I knew online, made new friends, made better friends out of old ones, experienced new things, and learnt a lot about myself...
I feel like the only thing holding me back, the only thing keeping me in this funk, the only thing stopping me from really enjoying my life here in Manchester, is my outstanding work. I also feel like the only thing I need to do to get past that, is to establish a routine. However, there are a number of other things I can think of that are making me less happy than I should be.
Life is all about living, and there are a number of things that fight off the surrealness of our realities, and make us feel real, for me, programming is one of these realism pills.
Programming and in most cases computer science, are not disciplines of science, nor do they have much to do with computers. They are the art of turning an abstract idea into a useful and real thing, computers are simply the tools that we use to do this in this day and age. Computer science is as much about computers as Chemistry is about beakers, flasks and bunsen burners, or as english is about the pen or the keyboard.
I really miss programming, I found myself wanting to write a simple script yesterday. I analysed the problem, worked out the pragmatic solution and choice of technology (Perl lol), but when I opened my text editor, I found myself with no clue as per what to do.
So after determining how my spell would work, selecting the right wand to use, and whipping it out (setTone('Low');) in the most dramatic and choregographed way possible, I had absolutely no idea what to do next.
I don't know how to describe that feeling of helplessness. It isn't much like writers' or artists' block, I had my inspiration, and I most certainly wasn't burned out on programming (it's been a long time), and the problem itself was simple so it wasn't complexity that held me back either... It was much more like the frustration that a newly paralysed person must go through, when they try to take a step.
I often go overboard with my own ideas, try and take on projects that are impossible, or try to perfect simple tasks so that they too become impossible. Life is a series of steps, of tasks, moving your reality from it's current state, closer to a state that you would prefer with each nudge. And so to feel alive you must move, shift and shape your reality.
I shouldn't be afraid, or look too far to the future, nor to the past. I should look the the next, small step, and where that will take me. Of course, this requires some assessment of what I want to change and prioritization of these changes, but this shouldn't involve looking too far forwards either. For if we keep looking forwards and backwards, we will never get to enjoy where we are, and thats not life to me.
I've had a really good few weeks at university, dispite illness putting me a bit behind in my work (mostly caught up on now). I've met people I knew online, made new friends, made better friends out of old ones, experienced new things, and learnt a lot about myself...
I feel like the only thing holding me back, the only thing keeping me in this funk, the only thing stopping me from really enjoying my life here in Manchester, is my outstanding work. I also feel like the only thing I need to do to get past that, is to establish a routine. However, there are a number of other things I can think of that are making me less happy than I should be.
Life is all about living, and there are a number of things that fight off the surrealness of our realities, and make us feel real, for me, programming is one of these realism pills.
Programming and in most cases computer science, are not disciplines of science, nor do they have much to do with computers. They are the art of turning an abstract idea into a useful and real thing, computers are simply the tools that we use to do this in this day and age. Computer science is as much about computers as Chemistry is about beakers, flasks and bunsen burners, or as english is about the pen or the keyboard.
I really miss programming, I found myself wanting to write a simple script yesterday. I analysed the problem, worked out the pragmatic solution and choice of technology (Perl lol), but when I opened my text editor, I found myself with no clue as per what to do.
So after determining how my spell would work, selecting the right wand to use, and whipping it out (setTone('Low');) in the most dramatic and choregographed way possible, I had absolutely no idea what to do next.
I don't know how to describe that feeling of helplessness. It isn't much like writers' or artists' block, I had my inspiration, and I most certainly wasn't burned out on programming (it's been a long time), and the problem itself was simple so it wasn't complexity that held me back either... It was much more like the frustration that a newly paralysed person must go through, when they try to take a step.
I often go overboard with my own ideas, try and take on projects that are impossible, or try to perfect simple tasks so that they too become impossible. Life is a series of steps, of tasks, moving your reality from it's current state, closer to a state that you would prefer with each nudge. And so to feel alive you must move, shift and shape your reality.
I shouldn't be afraid, or look too far to the future, nor to the past. I should look the the next, small step, and where that will take me. Of course, this requires some assessment of what I want to change and prioritization of these changes, but this shouldn't involve looking too far forwards either. For if we keep looking forwards and backwards, we will never get to enjoy where we are, and thats not life to me.