Programming-like activities?

robot-dreams

Programming is quite a remarkable activity:

It has an extremely low barrier to entry
- You don't need expensive equipment
- You don't need to be in a particular location
- You don't need special credentials
- You can finding information / resources just by opening the internet
- You can learn it / do it independently
It gives you rapid feedback (which can lead to rapid growth)
It gives you frequent rewards (which gives a huge boost in motivation)
It's objective and unforgiving (this is a good thing, because it teaches you how to confront reality)
It's intellectually stimulating
It's useful in the real world
- Corollary: you can make money or even build a career out of it
It's badass (or are you telling me that Hackers WASN'T your favorite movie of all time?)

What are some other "programming-like" activities?

I mean this in the sense of "activities that also satisfy the above criteria", but suggestions don't have to satisfy ALL of the criteria. Here are some of the first ideas that come to mind when I try to answer the question myself:

Electronics (but this is basically still programming)
Math (lacks "rapid feedback" and "frequent rewards"; "useful in the real world" is also questionable)
Go, poker, video games (usually lacks "useful in the real world", sometimes lacks "badass")
Juggling, poi (lacks "intellectually stimulating" and "useful in the real world")

However, I've already exhausted my creativity and I'm hoping to go much deeper than this. Thoughts?

Programming is quite a remarkable activity:

It has an extremely low barrier to entry
- You don't need expensive equipment
- You don't need to be in a particular location
- You don't need special credentials
- You can finding information / resources just by opening the internet
- You can learn it / do it independently
It gives you rapid feedback (which can lead to rapid growth)
It gives you frequent rewards (which gives a huge boost in motivation)
It's objective and unforgiving (this is a good thing, because it teaches you how to confront reality)
It's intellectually stimulating
It's useful in the real world
- Corollary: you can make money or even build a career out of it
It's badass (or are you telling me that Hackers WASN'T your favorite movie of all time?)

What are some other "programming-like" activities?

Electronics (but this is basically still programming)
Math (lacks "rapid feedback" and "frequent rewards"; "useful in the real world" is also questionable)
Go, poker, video games (usually lacks "useful in the real world", sometimes lacks "badass")
Juggling, poi (lacks "intellectually stimulating" and "useful in the real world")

However, I've already exhausted my creativity and I'm hoping to go much deeper than this. Thoughts?

Having done a math PHD and now working as a programmer I find math proofs and programming semi-similar. Though I think programming is less "relaxing." In mathematics if you have an argument that works and isn't insanely complicated you can call yourself victorious. You can look for a simpler method if you want but there is really no imperative to do so. In programming there is almost always a better way to solve a given problem and the differences in speed matter alot.

In programming there is almost always a better way to solve a given problem and the differences in speed matter alot.

Do you mean development speed or execution speed? Either way, I'd guess it depends a lot on the application you're working on and/or the culture of your organization.

6fowlertm11y

My two cents: I studied math pretty intensively on my own and later started programming. To my pleasant surprise, the thinking style involved in math transmitted almost directly over into programming. I'd imagine that the inverse is also true.

4robot-dreams11y

This is a fascinating perspective. For me, optimizing code (both style and performance) can, at times, almost feel like gardening (aka relaxing and theraputic). On the other hand, I really like math, yet I've generally found that it requires WAY more effort than programming. Perhaps this is why you have a math PhD and I don't ;-)