Chicken Wing Hot Sauce, Calculus, Shelburne Bay, and Coding
I ordered Chicken Wings (Hot) at Buono's Pizzaria on my way back from walking the dogs by Shelburne Bay last night (pics below.) Its a great restaurant with great food, and I had eaten Buono's Hot Chicken Wings before. But last night they damned-near killed me and were way hotter than before. Thus the arrival to the topic of subjective measurements and coding.
I got my Bachelor's in Music Composition. Another lifetime ago. I immediately began studying Computer Science upon graduation and remember distinctly sitting in a Calculus class shortly thereafter thinking, “Wow! This is great! Either a formula works or it doesn't!” I contrasted that with the subjective, interpretative world of Music Composition, where a listener to something I composed would assess its value with, “Umm, well...it was okay. I liked it!” I never did care for Calculus much, but that day in class I concluded I really liked the right-or-wrong world of programming.
Having coded a good many years and getting deep into .NET, I again appreciate the subjective, aethestic aspects of good code. But bottom line, either something works or it doesn't. A lot of people go to work not having any idea what to expect. As a coder, I know exactly what works and what to expect in my day. And as a nerd Chicken Wing eater, I want the hot sauce to be the same every time, too, dang it.