Writing Code Explained to Writers

My cousin-in-law is a talented playwright and I had this notion after he shared some of his work with us.

It occurred to me that an author of software has all the same fun as an author of books or plays. We get to create worlds out of thin air. We populate it with actors and define rules dictating how they interact, together and with the rest of the environment. Creating software is that same fun as a traditional author, with the additional benefit that all we have to do once we’re done writing the code is, simply, to hit Run.

Imagine that, writing a short story or a novel, and then just tapping a button and suddenly your story and your characters come to life in front of you like a play or a movie. There is no production phase, getting the financing, finding the right people, the actors, rehearsing, etc, before you can see what you wrote. No, all you have to do is hit Run. And it… plays. Instantly.

That’s why writing code is so much fun and so addicting.