Jeremy Tregunna:
Somebody had to say it. Programming is hard. Programming lives at the intersection of art and science. Not only do you get to create wonderful works of art, but they are based in science, yes, SCIENCE!
So why do we write code? I hope your answer is “Because I love it,” if not, you should go be a truck driver.
Tregunna sums up how I approach programming and offers great advice for those wanting to learn. For me, even if in the context of scientific data processing, programming is a creative exercise. I always find that the creative process is hard to begin, all-encompassing once started, mentally exhaustive, and totally worth the end result.