A few people on this site may know that I have plans to go to college for 3D. As it turns out, I probably won't be getting in to the program that will lead me directly down that path this coming September. So all of a sudden I have a year of nothing laid out before me. That simply won't do. Taking a look through the courses that are still miraculously open, I spotted computer programming. This seems to me like a thing that may complement my intended career as a 3D artist: Often custom scripts and code are needed to complete monotonous, difficult, or impossible tasks, and simply understanding the plight of your co-workers is a valuable skill. I'm thinking that it may be a good use of my time to do this for a year or so, but it also comes down to me: Am I cut out for programming? Hopefully you guys can help me determine this.
Now, I have very little experience with programming. Aside from a few extremely simple Quake C scripts I wrote recently, I've spent a little bit of time trying to learn python a few years back. I really did enjoy it. It was hard work, but that's the kind I like, and that moment where you compile and everything finally snaps in to place gave me an exquisite sense of satisfaction. That interest lasted only a few weeks though, and I think I'm not lying to myself when I say that my quitting was entirely due to the lack of learning resources that I could find online. I got past the basic tutorials and could simply find nothing else that built steadily upon what I had learned from them. I felt the barrier to entry was too high for my feeble mind, but I imagine that this program would ease the learning curve considerably. However, given my limited experience, I think it's important to confirm that programming is what I think it is.
Now on to What I Understand Programming to be, and Why I Think I Would Enjoy It
I know code is simply the thing that a machine can interpret into it's own language. I know that code is a set of instructions defining what things are; be they bicycles or menus. I don't know what tools I am expected to use to define these things. I don't know how to relate these things properly to a bigger picture, I.E., how all these objects would fit together. "I've got the bicycle and the house, but how do I make it crash in to the wall". I don't really know what programming becomes at a non-basic level. However, I have a practical example of what I imagine programming would be like once I pass the level that I left off at, and why I might enjoy it even more then I was:A while ago I was working on a rig just for kicks. The rig consisted of a plane lying upon four pistons, one in each corner. I had to figure out an algorithm that allowed me to raise one piston - piston A - +6 on the y axis, and this would give the two neighbor pistons - pistons B - a value of 0 and the adjacent piston C -6 on y. You with me here? Basically this would lead to the plane being able to compensate for angle, always in contact with the pistons no matter what. Easy in the one direction: C = A(-1), B = A+C/2. But I wanted this effect to work no matter which of the four pistons I moved on the y, and for them - within limits - to blend together appropriately. As it turns out, I never figured this out, but that's beside the point. What I want to know is, am I wrong in thinking that this is essentially a programming problem? Because I really enjoyed working on it and trying to figure it out! And I was able to try out this somewhat (Well, too) advanced problem because I had a GUI to work with, but am I wrong in thinking that these are the sort of logical problems that one is presented with when programming? I understand that not all problems would be so based in physical space and many instances would be "click this, open this", but even so I think I just enjoy little puzzles like these. If this is what programming is about, I'd be interested to give it a try.
Try not to think of the logistics of this life-changing, spur of the moment, undertaking of mine. Don't worry about time, money, or practicality. My question to you is, given this information, do you think I could enjoy computer programming, or am I better off doing something else for a year?
(Oh, and I'm really pretty average at math. A recent test I took placed me at the 64th percentile, as compared to my peers.)
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