The Joys of the Craft
Today would have been the birthday of one of my computer heroes, Fred Brooks, who passed away a few years ago aged 91. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the luck to meet him in person (living on a different part of the planet definitely didn’t help). Still, I did meet him through his book The Mythical Man-Month, which I read during my student years. Programming lore masters held it as an all-time classic, so my curiosity was kindled… and I was not disappointed!
There’s lots to say about Brooks’ book, but I’ll skip that to keep the article short1. I just wanted to quote a section of the first chapter that resonated deeply with me, because his words read like an ode to programming2. They echo in many ways my own thoughts, but are expressed with more beauty than I could wish to achieve myself. Therefore, dear reader, now you have been brought by fate to this corner of the internet, let me delight you with the following poem in prose.
First is the sheer joy of making things. As the child delights in his mud pie, so the adult enjoys building things, especially things of his own design. I think this delight must be an image of God’s delight in making things, a delight shown in the distinctness and newness of each leaf and each snowflake.
