As a Computer Science major, the following scenario happens at least once a month:
Your friend or parents ask what you've been working on in your classes. You get really excited to show them because you've got a "really cool" project you've been working on. You quick pull out the code you've been writing:
And show it to them! (As a side note, the code I'm showing here is from an actual project. This is about 50 lines of a little over 1000 lines total and the project is about 2/3 done.)
They don't really get what it is (And they need you to define code, but don't want to ask). But they're trying to be excited for you! So the next logical question is, what does it do.
You proudly compile and run your program and point triumphantly at the output:
"See?" you say excitedly. "A = 3!!" They try to smile, but they're confused and are starting to wonder if your major is a joke like some other majors out there. Eventually you take a good long look at those two lines and realize that "A = 3", however complicated it may have been for those three characters to get there, looks lame.
Why? Because what they were expecting it to do was something more along the lines of:
or even
Because in every TV show and movie out there, when a computer programmer is working on something and hits run, those are the two options. You get a video game, or flashy green numbers.
All that being said, give them some credit for being willing to even try to get what you're doing. Most people would just assume you're playing video games all day and walk away.
Your friend or parents ask what you've been working on in your classes. You get really excited to show them because you've got a "really cool" project you've been working on. You quick pull out the code you've been writing:
 |
| It's probably illegible. Which actually works better for this post |
And show it to them! (As a side note, the code I'm showing here is from an actual project. This is about 50 lines of a little over 1000 lines total and the project is about 2/3 done.)
They don't really get what it is (And they need you to define code, but don't want to ask). But they're trying to be excited for you! So the next logical question is, what does it do.
You proudly compile and run your program and point triumphantly at the output:
"See?" you say excitedly. "A = 3!!" They try to smile, but they're confused and are starting to wonder if your major is a joke like some other majors out there. Eventually you take a good long look at those two lines and realize that "A = 3", however complicated it may have been for those three characters to get there, looks lame.
Why? Because what they were expecting it to do was something more along the lines of:
or even
Because in every TV show and movie out there, when a computer programmer is working on something and hits run, those are the two options. You get a video game, or flashy green numbers.
All that being said, give them some credit for being willing to even try to get what you're doing. Most people would just assume you're playing video games all day and walk away.
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