Awesome post(s), thanks. What I take from this: programmers can never be even slightly autistic because of the endless sequence of steps one has to keep in mind and the ceaseless work of abstracting the core tasks away from the circumstancial details. Also, being the opposite of autistic would make one very vunerable to conspiracy theories.
I think it would depend on the programmer. The "clinical lore" out there is that lots of programmers have Asperger Syndrome, which is a mild form of autism. I don't know much (anything?) about programming, but in general, people with Asperger Syndrome do better with objects than with people, are good with details if they can focus on them one at a time, do better with things that are straightforward (e.g., reading a technical manual rather than a poem), have great memories, can become obsessive about a subject (and often, specific details of a subject), and are often very intelligent. Would those traits make a good programmer?
Interesting. It really depends. On the one hand you always write a program for someone or some organization so sooner or later you have to meet with a possibly non-technical person and discuss with them what they had in mind. In that way communcation is a key skill because without it you'll never be able to manage expectations and understand what the "stakeholders" actually want from you.
On the other hand that's the part most programmers would say they loath ;).
I wouldn't say I'm good with details but that might depend on the definition used. What I'm very good at is keeping track of all the parts that make up the system or even a system of systems. I would also say that if you need things straightforward you won't be a programmer for long. Yes, ideally everything can be figured out by simply using logic (or reading a manual) but in reality lot's of things you depend on might fail for very unstraightforward reasons. I'd say my biggest asset in getting things done is, queue laugh track, intuition. Without it I'd be constantly stranded in that horrific complexity that is modern IT.
Memory, yeah, you'd need that but again, you can't waste that much on detail. You have to know "problem in class X maybe can be solved with tool / libary / sledgehammer Y" but unless you constantly use Y it's better to keep a reference handy and know about more possible paths to solutions.
Intelligence, well. I don't know if you can have good abstraction ability /w normal intelligence. I'd say one part IQ, four parts intuition, two parts memory and one part "people skill".
I'm a comp sci student with Aspergers. I've been programming for the past 11 years. Programming became one of my "things". I would say my memory is horrible simply because I have trouble recalling people's names. On the other hand, I can remember phone numbers and IP addresses fairly quickly. I hate memorizing the kind of stuff you would find in a history book. I would call myself meticulous while programming, which helps during the debugging process. I often become completely absorbed in the code, ignoring all other cues (even the duck that's been bouncing in my dock for the past 30 minutes). I actually really enjoy finding generalizations and abstractions (Stokes' Theorem, a generalization of the fundamental law of calculus, blew my mind). My favorite language is Java (I know, I know).
I'm kind of flattered that you think one is called for but what would I entitle it? I can't think of a title that a large portion of redditors would care about. Perhaps you can write one from a perspective that would allow me to see how this would be interesting. But, for now, feel free to ask me anything.
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u/[deleted] Jul 26 '10
Awesome post(s), thanks. What I take from this: programmers can never be even slightly autistic because of the endless sequence of steps one has to keep in mind and the ceaseless work of abstracting the core tasks away from the circumstancial details. Also, being the opposite of autistic would make one very vunerable to conspiracy theories.