Re: Where does programming begin?

On Sep 26, 3:54 am, Tom Impelluso <impel...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
May I ask for opinions?

I have programmed in FORTRAN, C and just a bit of C++ (enough
to scare the hell out of me - but that is not the issue).

I now hear people say:
I program in matlab.
I program in SecondLife.
I program using LabView.
I program in <insert some established program here: one that enables user
manipulation or interaction>

One person, I recall, from years back, told me he programmed
in Inventor (that older object oriented API to OpenGL from SGI).

When I asked him about it, I thought that he had meant he compiled
the codes himself. Instead, he created the objects in a CAD package
and read them into an already established scene graph.

So I am curious to know if there is some standard definition of
programming?

Is it relative?
The "closer" one is to coding at the operating system level, or the
closer one is to assembly, the more it is called "programming"?

Curious to know opinions...

As stated and elobarated by others, programming is the act of
instructing machines what to do. I would however like to add an extra
component. Not only would one need to instruct machines what to do but
one also needs to store the sequence of instructions for the purpose
of future (re)use. The reason I consider this an integral part of
programming is best demonstrated by example:

1. A person who uses the shell utilities to find and delete all .obj
files in a directory is obviously not programming - he's just using
the shell. But a person who saves the commands needed to fid and
delete all .obj files into a script is quite obviously programming.

2. A person who uses Adobe Photoshop to analyse and color correct
images is obviously not programming. But if he uses Photoshop to
design a smart macro to do the same then he's arguably programming.


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