honestly i think half the reason i stick around in software is that it's the closest thing to magic that incontrovertibly exists and is a thing mortals can do
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@KitRedgrave this is true of all writing, not just writing code
re: hot take
@KitRedgrave hmm is being interpreted by a system designed by humans really that different from being interpreted by humans though
granted it’s being interpreted by humans on a delay, and potentially by the ghosts of dead humans, and certainly by humans not presently in the room, and without their knowledge…
re: hot take
@KitRedgrave ……but this is also possible with all writing. if you write a comprehensive enough specification, the correct interpretation can be determined without an implementation in software
re: hot take
@Lady and being interpreted orders of magnitude faster than humans, untiringly forever, though with absolutely zero room for ambiguity that wasn't explicitly designed in...
it does start to look like literal sorcery
hot take
@Lady @KitRedgrave Humans are far more tempermental and inconsistent than computers.
And, importantly, more autonomous. The power that is in the sorcery of programming for computers also exists in writing for humans, yes, but you can't cut as loose and free letting that sort of power play out over humans. It's not ethical.
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@gaditb @KitRedgrave i think we disagree in what programming is doing and who it is for
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@gaditb @KitRedgrave programs have no meaning outside of the meaning ascribed to them by human society, human processes, and human culture. the sorcery of programming is sorcery with humans as its explicit target
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@gaditb @KitRedgrave computers are tools for resolving spells faster than a human could resolve them on their own. but it's humans casting spells for humans regardless of whether it is tool-assisted or not
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@gaditb @KitRedgrave (faster / with greater accuracy / with higher resolution / displaced through time and space / …)
(but none of those modifications change the fundamental nature of the spell)
hot take
@Lady true, but computer code has the exciting distinction of being interpreted by something that isn't us