Many things worth doing… ARE HARD!

I’ve worked in other fields where practice really mattered. I hated to practice exercises on trumpet as a kid, but as I return to it as an adult, I’m actively seeking exercise books to play. It’s the only way to get the skills back, even though I “know” how to play all of these things. In woodworking, it’s painfully clear that the best way to learn is to do, and do a lot, preferably without taking a long time in between projects. (And watching little Sungiva figuring things out and trying them repeatedly gives a new sense of the importance of practice.)

In computing, though, we often assume that readers will learn by reading, trying, and a bit of fiddling. We even assume a whole category of readers who will assemble applications by cutting and pasting code together without much understanding of what they’re doing and how to smooth the rough edges.