Zed Shaw：一位老程序員的建議

Advice from an Old Programmer

原文：Zed Shaw，譯文：外刊IT評論

導讀：原文做者Zed Shaw是一位做家、軟件開發人員、音樂人（下文中提到吉他手），於2010年發佈《Learn Python The Hard Way 初版》一書，他也是 Mongrel Web 服務器系統的做者之一。本文是《Learn Python The Hard Way， 2nd Edition》的尾聲部分。Zed還分享過《程序員的常見健康問題》一文。

You've finished this book and have decided to continue with programming. Maybe it will be a career for you, or maybe it will be a hobby. You'll need some advice to make sure you continue on the right path and get the most enjoyment out of your newly chosen activity.

看完了這本書，你決定繼續作編程。也許它能成爲你的一個職業，也許它能成爲你的一項愛好。但你須要一些指導，確保本身不會走錯了道路，或幫助你從這個新業餘愛好中獲得最大的樂趣。

I've been programming for a very long time. So long that it's incredibly boring to me. At the time that I wrote this book, I knew about 20 programming languages and could learn new ones in about a day to a week depending on how weird they were. Eventually though this just became boring and couldn't hold my interest anymore. This doesn't mean I think programming is boring, or that you will think it's boring, only that I find it uninteresting at this point in my journey.

我作了好久的編程。久的你都想象不出來，久的都讓我苦惱。就在我寫這本書的時候，我大概懂20種編程語言，並且我能夠用一天或長點兒用一週的時間學會一種新語言——要依這種語言有多奇怪而定。但這最終成爲了個人苦惱，它們已經不能再吸引個人興趣。我並非說這些語言沒有意思，或告訴你你會以爲它們很枯燥。只是想說在個人職業旅程走到如今，我已再也不對語言有興趣。

What I discovered after this journey of learning is that it's not the languages that matter but what you do with them. Actually, I always knew that, but I'd get distracted by the languages and forget it periodically. Now I never forget it, and neither should you.

通過這麼多年的學習經歷，我發現語言自己並不重要，重要的是你如何用它們。事實上，我一直知道這個道理，但我老是被語言吸引走，週期性的忘記這個道理。如今我再也不忘記了，你也應該這樣。

Which programming language you learn and use doesn't matter. Do not get sucked into the religion surrounding programming languages as that will only blind you to their true purpose of being your tool for doing interesting things.

你會什麼語言、你用什麼語言，這並不重要。不要被圍繞在編程語言周圍的各類宗教宣傳迷惑，那些只會遮蔽你的眼睛，讓你看不出這些語言只是一種讓你作有趣的事情的工具而已。這纔是它們的真正屬性。

Programming as an intellectual activity is the only art form that allows you to create interactive art. You can create projects that other people can play with, and you can talk to them indirectly. No other art form is quite this interactive. Movies flow to the audience in one direction. Paintings do not move. Code goes both ways.

編程做爲一種智力活動，它是惟一的一種能讓你創造出交互式藝術做品的藝術形式。你創造出來人們能夠操做的軟件，你是在間接的和人們交互。沒有任何其它藝術形式有如此的交互性。電影是單向的向觀衆傳輸信息。繪畫是靜態的。而軟件程序倒是雙向動態的。

Programming as a profession is only moderately interesting. It can be a good job, but you could make about the same money and be happier running a fast food joint. You're much better off using code as your secret weapon in another profession.

編程只能算是一項通常有趣的工做。它能夠成爲一個不錯的職業，但若是你既想多掙錢又要乾的高興，不如去開一家快餐館。若是你把編程當作一種祕密武器在其它行業裏使用，也許會有更好的效果。

People who can code in the world of technology companies are a dime a dozen and get no respect. People who can code in biology, medicine, government, sociology, physics, history, and mathematics are respected and can do amazing things to advance those disciplines.

科技界科技公司裏會編程的人多如牛毛，沒人會在乎他們。而在生物界，醫藥界，政府，社會學界，物理界，歷史界和數學界，若是你有這種技能，你能作出使人矚目的事情。

Of course, all of this advice is pointless. If you liked learning to write software with this book, you should try to use it to improve your life any way you can. Go out and explore this weird, wonderful, new intellectual pursuit that barely anyone in the last 50 years has been able to explore. Might as well enjoy it while you can.

固然，全部的這些話都是沒有意義的。若是經過這本書，你喜歡上了編程，你應該盡你最大的努力，經過它來改善你的生活。去探索這神奇的精彩的智力活動，也只有近50年來的人有機會從事這種職業。若是你喜歡它，就盡情的熱愛它吧。

Finally, I'll say that learning to create software changes you and makes you different. Not better or worse, just different. You may find that people treat you harshly because you can create software, maybe using words like "nerd." Maybe you'll find that because you can dissect their logic that they hate arguing with you. You may even find that simply knowing how a computer works makes you annoying and weird to them.

最後我要說的是，學習開發軟件會改變你，讓你不同凡響。不管是好的不一樣仍是壞的，反正是不一樣。你會發現，由於你會開發軟件，人們會對你很冷淡，會用「書呆子」這樣的詞形容你。你會發現，因爲你善於剖析邏輯，人們痛恨跟你辯論。你甚至會發現，只是簡單的懂一些計算機原理都會給你帶來不少煩惱，讓你跟他們比起來怪怪的。

To this I have just one piece of advice: they can go to hell. The world needs more weird people who know how things work and who love to figure it all out. When they treat you like this, just remember that this is your journey, not theirs. Being different is not a crime, and people who tell you it is are just jealous that you've picked up a skill they never in their wildest dreams could acquire.

對於這些問題，我只有一點小建議：讓他們去死吧。這世界須要更多的能知道事情如何工做、喜歡去探索的人。當他們這樣對待你時，你要記住，這是你的生活，不是他們的。不同凡響不是罪惡，人們這樣對你只是出於嫉妒，嫉妒你擁有一項他們在夢中都沒法擁有的技能。

You can code. They cannot. That is pretty damn cool.

你會編程。他們不會。這真他/媽的酷斃了。