“Stop!”
“It’s tempting to satisfy that urge, but no!”
“Dang it why’d I watch The Social Network again?”

Those are just some of the things that run through my head whenever I feel what I call “The Programming Bug.”  What is that?  Do others feel the same way?  How did it come to be?  Well, to answer the first question, that “bug” is the addicting feeling that makes me want to write code.  To answer the second question, I have no doubt that other programmers have felt it.  As for the last one, let’s go right into it.  This is how I got into computer programming.

Ever since I started playing video games, I always wondered how they were made.  With cartoons, it’s pretty easy to figure it out and say, “Oh those are made with drawings!”  With books you realize, “Hey cool, you can tell stories and convey thoughts if you can write sentences.”  But when you’re a little kid and you look at video games, I feel like it’s more mysterious.  And I didn’t learn how they were made until I read a book that opened me up to a whole new world.  That book is Masters of Doom.

In addition to giving a cool overview of the guys behind id software, it also showed me how games are made.  As a fun bonus, it reminded me of what it was like growing up on video games during the 90’s.  And not only that, it also explores how the gaming industry was born and how it evolved.

I was in a programming class during my senior year and already intrigued by what I was going to learn.  Not long after I started that class, I got Masters of Doom as a birthday present.  Within the first chapter, I went from being pretty intrigued to flat-out excited.   To say the book inspired me would be an understatement.  I had a friend in that class and at one point, while reading this, I looked to him and said, “Dude, we’ve gotta make games and form a company.”

Plot twist: That didn’t happen.  Hah, yeah there’s not much of a story behind why.  But I’m actually glad things happened the way they did.  I just don’t have as many ideas for games compared to the numerous ideas I have for movies & series.  I do have ideas, but not a lot.  What I got from that phase, though, were ideas that led to my discovery of Linux and open-source software, which I now use for just about everything productive that I do.

Plus, it was really fun getting into something that’s very intellectually stimulating.  The feeling of writing code, moving & changing things around, and finally seeing the program run properly creates a feeling of satisfaction very unique and rewarding.  It’s like solving a puzzle that creates something and makes you feel smarter.

Definitely check this video out for more reasons why people code.

Overall, I really liked programming and it’s definitely something I want to return to.  Managing my time has gotten slightly frenetic, however, especially since I’d rather work on ideas for blog posts and other content.  This is why I tend to squash that programming “bug.”  I feel like it’s only a matter of time before it comes back and I say, “Alright, let’s do this.”  Then I’ll let it sink its teeth in.

So until next time, always remember to think outside the box.  Unless it’s a nice roomy box, in which case, save some space for me.  See ya later! o/