Comment by egypturnash | Hacker News Reader

Comment by egypturnash | Hacker News Reader

I am not a programmer, but I've automated a few things in my life.

I self publish graphic novels. I have a script that runs on a directory full of page files and outputs a CSV in the format InDesign expects. I wrote it after manually editing a CSV and leaving a page out, and not noticing that until I had an advance copy in my hands and 400 more waiting to be shipped from the printer. That was an expensive learning experience.

I like to rotate my monitor portrait mode sometimes, but hate trying to rotate the Wacom tablet's settings as well. So I have a script that does this all in one go. It used to try to keep track of separate desktop backgrounds for landscape and portrait mode, but this stopped working right, so I took that part out.

I have a bunch of LIFX bulbs in my apartment. The one near the foyer changes color based on the rain forecast and the current temperature, to give me an idea of how to dress when going out, thanks to a little Python script I keep running on my computer. Someday I'll move it to the Raspberry Pi sitting in a drawer.

I recently built a Twitter bot that tweets a random card from the Tarot deck I drew. I've been trying to extend it to talk to Mastodon as well but have been getting "request too large" errors from the API when trying to send the images. Someday I'll spin up a private Mastodon instance and figure out what's going on. Maybe. Until then it sits on a free Heroku account, tweeting a card and an image of its text about once a day.

And does building a custom Wordpress theme that lets me post individual pages of my comics, and show them a whole chapter at a time, count as "automation"? It sure has saved me a lot of hassle.

I have some news for you. You are a programmer.

If doing that stuff over about 4 or 5 years or so makes me a programmer, then I'm also a carpenter, because I've put together a few pieces of furniture over the same span.

My personal definition is that a programmer is someone who can write a computer program, and a developer is someone who writes computer programs for money. So you're a programmer, but not a developer. In the same way that you might be called a woodworker, but not a carpenter.

I like to think that a 'developer' or 'software engineer' is someone who can program not to just make it work, but addresses other concerns as well.

You're a programmer and carpenter. It doesn't have to be either/or.

I must say your coding achievements are impressive (great utility). Any other skills you haven't mentioned yet? :)

Well mostly I draw comics. In Adobe Illustrator. I spent four and a half years drawing a story about a robot lady dragged outside of reality by her ex-boyfriend: http://egypt.urnash.com/rita

There's other art stuff lurking around my site, too: http://egypt.urnash.com

A programmer is to a woodworker what a software engineer is to a carpenter.

You are a programmer, and a woodworker.

Difference is, you're not a programmer professionally. "Carpenter" strictly implies a profession--I think. Native English speakers feel free to correct me :)

In my head, "carpenter" just has a different connotation. But it's not very clear-cut. I used to DJ a lot at parties during my university years, was I "a DJ"? I prepare dinner for 8-10 guests regularly, am I "a cook"?

It kind of depends, I guess. I've drawn a large number of cartoons in my life, but (with few exceptions) never sold them for money. I wouldn't call myself a cartoonist (mainly because I don't do it as much recently), but I would definitely not call myself "not a cartoonist" :) That would be selling myself short :)

I'm not a programmer professionally either. But then, I do have a CS degree, and I still write code almost daily. I'm a programmer.

I also generally don't feel that the fact if you do something professionally (for money) should really count as "what you do" (identity, in a sense), as this comic illustrates: http://i.imgur.com/MNJzpqL.jpg (I didn't draw this, btw)

I was wondering who he thinks a programmer is?

She.

A programmer is someone who can program a computer, and chooses to call themselves a programmer. If absolutely nobody is willing to pay them to do so then maybe they're lying when they call themselves one.

If you ask me what I do, I'm not gonna say "I program computers", I'm gonna say "I draw comics and stuff". Because that's what I spend my work life doing. And occasionally I need to do some tedious task, and find a way to automate it, because I spent enough time in my youth fooling around with programming that I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty now and then.

I would call that a professional programmer.

Like, you can be a swimmer, or you can be a professional swimmer. You have to be a painter a long time before you sell your stuff.

Money is as much a corrupting influence as it is a validator of talent and a correlate to time spent.

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