On the self-cultivation of programmers

Recently, inadvertently saw a book, called "self-cultivation of programmers", the title is very attractive to me, open to look at, but found that the content is more about the windows underlying technology, such as the compiler, the principle of the link library, the implementation of the runtime library and so on. It may be that they do not often do Windows programming for the sake of, it is not very dull, do not want to read down. Instead it is the title that let me make some comments, obviously should be called "deep into the core of Windows development" and so on, but be labeled "Programmer self-cultivation" name, it is a bit exaggerated.

I have also written some articles, mostly teaching programmers how to tinker with fresh technology, or talk about professional and personal development of the topic, but for the programmer's life and self-cultivation has never dared to judge, at most only to persuade everyone to pay attention to rest, more out of the eyes and other gossip. Just recently, often see some websites, platforms blindly feed the so-called dry food programmers, and more and more programmers also mistakenly as their only pursuit, and even think this is the time of self-cultivation, I think should write something to talk about some of their ideas.

I often talk to the young programmers around me that the work that is being done and the techniques that I delve into may not be the real meaning of your existence, only life. And our culture is not in the grasp of which link library, or understand some of the windows underlying compiler principles, but should be more in the life of scholarship, cultivate some hobbies, know how to appreciate, experience and practice "beauty" (those beautiful things). The reason I say this is because I see too many programmers who can use technology to fill their lives when they are young, but as they grow older, they lose their way in the face of unavoidable realities, and then find themselves in the head with nothing but the technology that is almost obsolete, Will feel confused, helpless, also had to muddle through, vaguely to spend a lifetime, so not a pity?

When it comes to appreciating and experiencing beauty, you must want to know where they are. In fact, such as: literature, music, painting and so on, you can get a sense of beauty from the source, and any one of the categories are so vast, enough to let you inexhaustible. For me, trying to enjoy music is undoubtedly my favorite. I have never been to any music-related schools or training courses, singing is tone deaf, and to listen to classical music is entirely accidental. College roommate was a classical music fan, he always talked about the musicians and their music, but also lent me to read their biography, listen to the master's Works CD. In this way, I began to understand a little bit and like classical music. Through constant listening, trying to understand and appreciate, but also let me this layman can gradually realize the "beauty". Another interesting example is about the famous American collector, the couple Dorothy and Herbert Vogel. They were very ordinary people, one working in the post office and the other a librarian, who had been living in a cramped apartment in New York after their marriage. These two seemingly unrelated to art, but spend a lot of time to study the art of Learning, and from 1965 onwards, with a cautious eye on the continuous art collection. With the passage of time, their vision of the arts has been more and more recognized, during the period also discovered a lot of young artists, many of them became the minimalist and conceptual artists of the representative. And the value of their collection was finally proved, and 2007 were obtained by way of purchase or donation at the National Gallery in Washington. Is this the word "aesthetic experience", which he emphasized in his book "Ameri"? No one is born to appreciate that the feeling of beauty comes from the accumulated aesthetic experience.

However, most people will still be in the "Beauty" (art appreciation) on the road to stop, because they always feel that it is high, eager and unreachable. But I want to say that being an artist may really require a great talent, but learning to appreciate it is what you and I, the ordinary people, can get by practicing. Do you remember the experience of learning to ride a bike and learn how to swim? At first, will be wrestling, will also drink a few dirty water, but you have not found that oneself as if in a casual moment, suddenly learned to ride a bike and swimming it? As we practice, every muscle in the body is constantly being mobilized to find the balance and the momentum needed to ride a bike or swim, and even if you don't practice for a while, you will continue to learn and try in your subconscious, once you're back on your bike or into the pool, Will be surprised to find himself suddenly learned. The way to obtain beauty (art appreciation) seems to be the same, at the beginning we will feel it is obscure, but as long as constantly try to listen to, to see, attentively appreciate, you can open its door, let you appreciate the endless fun. and learn to appreciate with the previous mention of learning to ride, learn to swim the biggest difference is precisely, it is through the mobilization of thinking and emotion to practice, and the process itself is very beautiful, fascinating.

Some people, although they have made some attempts, but failed to persist, their problems are often ambitious, or not a good start. As we learned the first lesson in programming, we always start with a HelloWorld applet that contains just one line of code (with a command on the screen and a greeting line of Hello World). It has no meaning in itself, but it gives learners a first-time programming experience. The first step in learning to acquire beauty (art appreciation) is to try to feel as good as possible about the works of art. For example, if you are trying to listen to classical music, then I suggest starting with short works with beautiful melodies or some famous movement, such as Tchaikovsky's "string Quartet in D major", "the Line of songs", Bach's Brandenburg Concerto, Mozart's Piano Concerto 21, 12, 14th ", or Chopin's Nocturne. At the beginning, you do not need to listen for the purpose of understanding, but to feel the joy of those beautiful melodies. If you compare it to the experience of listening to pop music or a Hollywood blockbuster, you will find that pop culture tends to be easier to understand and can bring immediate pleasure, which is a bit like the short-term excitement that dopamine can give our brains, and that good works of art can bring more lasting beauty, though not necessarily strong, But you will be attracted to it and try to learn more about it.

Programmers have been working on programming all year long, making them often too rational, which, while helping them to do their job better, is weakening their perception of the things around them and their original rich emotions. We become not good at expressing emotions, and our eyes are only about those technologies. However, through the appreciation of those outstanding works of art can help us to restore insight, more important is to reach our feelings, and emotion is the foundation of our cultivation. On the bus, when there are old people on the bus, some people will immediately get up and give their seats, some will choose to turn a blind eye, until the old man came to the front, and reluctantly get up. Although all let the seat, but give a person's feeling is very different, the former is beautiful, let a person feel is cultivated, and the latter just did the thing that should do. The reasons for this contrast, I think it is the emotional bar, the former will be the feelings of their parents to all the elderly, made a very natural seat move, and the reason why the spectators appreciate the beauty, it is because of the feeling of this emotion, rather than just see someone do a moral thing. In the same way, when we admire an art work, we unconsciously take our own experience or match it through association, thus trying to resonate with the work. For example, when I first heard Perlman playing "Schindler's List" theme song, in front of my eyes, the Jews were in the movie The helpless expression of xxx, but it is only their own imagination, I have not experienced that scene, therefore, although I can understand the work through association, But it is not able to touch your emotions more deeply. Today, when I listen again, I see the scene of parting with my loved ones, the same kind of sadness and helplessness, and this time I can go directly to the depths of my heart.

For the higher level of appreciation of the United States, I am really powerless. Some artists have mentioned that Lenovo may undermine the appreciation of the art itself, the need to be detached from their own environment, feelings to appreciate and feel. To do this, I think it may depend on the emotions that have been fully stimulated, as well as a wealth of personal experience. This reminds me of Luc Besson's film, "Super Body", the heroine in the brain of each neuron in the stimulation of the drug through each other, so that the use of the brain is constantly improving, so as to see a lot of strange scenes around the picture (people use mobile phone information flow, the internal growth cycle of trees and so on). Does this make you think of that impressionist classic oil painting "Starry Night" (), Van Gogh saw the height of the exaggerated deformation and full of strong shock of the mobile sky? Perhaps the effect of feeling beauty is to inspire the brain in a deeper way, as it does in the film, from giving us the ability to perceive more.

Try to talk about appreciating and experiencing beauty, how should we practice beauty? Qing Dynasty literati Shen Fu in the "Six in a floating life" in the note, it is that although the poor is full of beauty, this beauty has poetry, landscape, flowers and the aesthetic, but also the Lady Yun (Lin Yutang as "the most lovable woman in Chinese Literature history") deep emotional beauty. The best way to practice beauty is to learn to put emotions in our lives as artists do. When I wrote about learning programming from "playing", I mentioned that in order to motivate the children to learn programming, and gave him a printed with "Programming Little Superman" business card. Although the design of the business card is not necessarily professional, but if you find that this is a father to encourage children, and the heart for his hand-made, is it also feel that this card adds some beauty? Perhaps it will also make you think of the things your parents did selflessly for you when they were young. I put the emotion of the child on this little card, it is the most beautiful for me and the child. Likewise, you can project your emotions into those things that you normally do to your parents, your children, your loved ones, your friends, and the natural outpouring of these emotions is often the most beautiful feeling.

We try to learn to obtain beauty not for the sake of arty, not to use it to passive masquerade. In his "Human Cihua", Wang Guowei, a well-known scholar of modern China, used the words written by his predecessors by "having a state, then becoming a high lattice". I think, this sentence can also be used to describe people, the "high-lattice" of life is not that you and I can appreciate those beautiful, and in life constantly to practice the "beauty"?

I come to talk about the United States, it is a bit of a boast, these shallow understanding, only as a programmer on the pursuit of life in the United States and the small memory bar.

On the self-cultivation of programmers