TITLE: Could I be a programmer? AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford DATE: January 24, 2014 2:18 PM DESC: ----- BODY:

... with apologies to Annie Dillard.

A well-known programmer got collared by a university student who asked, "Do you think I could be a programmer?" "Well," the programmer said, "I don't know... Do you like function calls?" The programmer could see the student's amazement. Function calls? Do I like function calls? I am twenty years old and do I like function calls? If the student had liked function calls, of course, he could begin, like a joyful painter I knew. I asked him how he came to be a painter. He said, "I liked the smell of paint." -----