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What are the craziest misconceptions you’ve heard about programming from people not familiar with it? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 8 months ago by gianni@lemmy.ml to c/programming@programming.dev

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As someone who spends time programming, I of course find myself in conversations with people who aren't as familiar with it. It doesn't happen all the time, but these discussions can lead to people coming up with some pretty wild misconceptions about what programming is and what programmers do.

I'm sure many of you have had similar experiences. So, I thought it would be interesting to ask.

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[–] UNWILLING_PARTICIPANT@sh.itjust.works 11 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (16 children)

I mean the classic is that you must be "really good at computers" like I'm okay at debugging, just by being methodical, but if you plop me in front of a Windows desktop and ask me to fix your printer; brother, I haven't fucked with any of those 3 things in over a decade.

I would be as a baby, learning everything anew, to solve your problem.

[–] Curdie@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I enjoy your comment so much because your methodical and patient approach to debugging code is exactly what's required to fix a printer. You literally are really good at computers even if your aren't armed with a lot of specific knowledge. It's the absolutely worst because troubleshooting without knowledge and experience is painfully slow and the whole time I'm thinking"they know so much more about this than I do! If they'd just slow down and read what's on the screen ..." But many people struggle to do even basic troubleshooting. Their lack of what you have makes them inept.

[–] Solemn@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 8 months ago

I was gonna say, the OP here sounds perfectly good at computers. Most people either have so little knowledge they can't even start on solving their printer problem no matter what, or don't have the problem solving mindset needed to search for and try different things until they find the actual solution.

There's a reason why specific knowledge beyond the basic concepts is rarely a hard requirement in software. The learning and problem solving abilities are way more important.

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