The Embodied Experience of Programming in Different Languages
By
solarwindy
A second-rack bagel that's nearly first-rack. Tasty stuff.
Summary
The article explores the subjective, embodied experience of programming in different languages, contrasting the precarious feeling of C-like languages with nested parentheses to the grounded, exploratory nature of functional languages like Haskell. The author describes programming as a physical experience involving breath, posture, and spatial awareness.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledDifferent programming languages feel viscerally different, right? I can't be the only one. It's so embodied.
When I'm deep in multiple nested parentheses in a C-like language, even Python, I feel precarious, like I'm walking a high wire or balancing things in my hands.
Functional languages are the opposite. I haven't done much Haskell but what I did felt like crawling underground through caves.
Programming is a physical experience. I hold my breath. I lean forward. I feel the code in my body.
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