TITLE: I Am Thankful for Programming
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: November 26, 2015 11:04 AM
DESC: 
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BODY:
I smiled a big smile when I read this passage in
<A HREF="https://plus.maths.org/content/os/issue49/interview/index">
   an interview</A>
with Victoria Gould, a British actor and mathematician:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 And just as it did when she was at school, maths still brings Victoria
 relief and reassurance.  "When teaching or acting becomes stressful, I
 retreat to maths a lot for its calmness and its patterns.  I'll quite
 often, in a stressful time, go off and do a bit of linear algebra or
 some trigonometric identities.  They're hugely calming for me."  Maths
 as stress relief?  "Absolutely, it works every time!"
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

It reminded me of a former colleague, a mathematician who now works
at Ohio University.  He used to say that he had pads and pencils
scattered on tables and counters throughout his house, because "I
never know when I'll get the urge to do some math."

Last night, I came home after a couple of days of catching up on
department work and grading.  Finally, it was time to relax for
the holiday.  What did I do first?  I wrote a fun little program
in Python to reverse an integer, using only arithmetic operators.
Then I watched a movie with my wife.  Both relaxed me.

I was fortunate as a child to find solace in fiddling with numbers
and patterns.  Setting up a system of equations and solving it
algebraically was fun.  I could while away many minutes playing
with the square root key on my calculator, trying to see how long
it would take me to drive a number to 1.

Then in high school I discovered programming, my ultimate retreat.

On this day, I am thankful for many people and many things, of
course.  But Gould's comments remind me that I am also thankful for
the privilege of knowing how to program, and for the way it allows
me to escape into a world away from stress and distraction.  This
is a gift.
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