{"id":749,"date":"2013-03-28T20:32:50","date_gmt":"2013-03-28T20:32:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rulesofreason.wordpress.com\/?p=749"},"modified":"2013-03-28T20:32:50","modified_gmt":"2013-03-28T20:32:50","slug":"swimming-in-a-sea-of-code","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/re-design.dimiter.eu\/?p=749","title":{"rendered":"Swimming in a sea of code"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you are looking for code here, move on.<\/i><\/p>\n

>\u00a0<\/code>In the beginning, there was only the relentless blinking of the cursor. With the maddening regularity of waves splashing on the shore: blink, blink, blink, blink\u2026Beyond the cursor, the white wasteland of the empty page: vast, featureless, and terrifying as the sea. You stare at the empty page and primordial fear engulfs you: you are never gonna venture into this wasteland, you are never gonna leave the stable, solid, familiar world of menus and shortcuts, icons and buttons.<\/p>\n

And then you take the first cautious steps.<\/p>\n

print \u2018Hello world\u2019
\n> Hello world<\/code>, the sea obliges.
\n
\n1+1
\n> 2
\n2+2
\n> 4
\n<\/code>
\nYou are still scared, but your curiosity is aroused. The playful responsiveness of the sea is tempting, and quickly becomes irresistible. Soon, you are jumpting around like a child, rolling upside-down and around and around:
\n
\n> a=2
\n> b=3
\n> a+b
\n5
\n<\/code>
\n> for (x in 1:60) print (x)<\/code>
\n1\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 3\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 4\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 5\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 6\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 9\u00a0\u00a0 10\u00a0\u00a0 11\u00a0\u00a0 12\u00a0\u00a0 13\u00a0\u00a0 14\u00a0 15\u00a0\u00a0 16\u00a0\u00a0 17\u00a0\u00a0 18\u00a0\u00a0 19\u00a0\u00a0 20 \u00a0\u00a021\u00a0\u00a0 22\u00a0\u00a0 23\u00a0\u00a0 24\u00a0\u00a0 25\u00a0\u00a0 26\u00a0 27\u00a0\u00a0 28\u00a0\u00a0 29\u00a0\u00a0 30\u00a0\u00a0 31\u00a0\u00a0 32 \u00a0\u00a033\u00a0\u00a0 34\u00a0\u00a0 35\u00a0\u00a0 36\u00a0\u00a0 37\u00a0\u00a0 38\u00a0 39\u00a0\u00a0 40\u00a0\u00a0 41\u00a0\u00a0 42\u00a0\u00a0 43\u00a0\u00a0 44 \u00a0\u00a045\u00a0\u00a0 46\u00a0\u00a0 47\u00a0\u00a0 48\u00a0\u00a0 49\u00a0\u00a0 50\u00a0 51\u00a0\u00a0 52\u00a0\u00a0 53\u00a0\u00a0 54\u00a0\u00a0 55\u00a0\u00a0 56\u00a0\u00a0 57\u00a0\u00a0 58 \u00a0\u00a059\u00a0\u00a0 60<\/code><\/p>\n

The sense of freedom is exhilarating. You take a deep breath and dive:<\/p>\n

> for (i in 1:10) ifelse (i>5, print ('ha'), print ('ho'))
\n[1] \"ho\"
\n[1] \"ho\"
\n[1] \"ho\"
\n[1] \"ho\"
\n[1] \"ho\"
\n[1] \"ha\"
\n[1] \"ha\"
\n[1] \"ha\"
\n[1] \"ha\"
\n[1] \"ha\"
\n<\/code>
\nYour old fear seems so silly now. Code is your friend. The sea is your friend. The white page is just a playground with endless possibilities.<\/p>\n

Your confidence grows. You start venturing further into the deep. You write your first function. You let code scrape the web for you. You generate your first random variable. You run your first statistical models. Your code grows in length and takes you deeper and deeper into unexplored space.<\/p>\n

Then suddenly you are lost. Panic sets in. The code stops to obey; you search for the problem but you cannot find it. Panic grows.\u00a0Instinctively, you grasp for help for the icons, but there are none. You look for support by the\u00a0menus but they are gone. You are all\u00a0alone\u00a0 in the middle of this long string of code which seems so alien right now. Clouds gather.\u00a0Who tempted you in? How do you get back? What to do next? You want to turn these lists into vectors, but you can’t. You need to decompose your strings into characters but you don’t know how. Out of\u00a0nowhere encoding problems appear and your entire code is defunct. You are lost….<\/p>\n

Eventually, you give up and get back to the shore. The world of menus and icons and shortcuts is limited but safe. Your short flirt with code is over forever, you think. Sometimes you dare to dream about the freedom it gave you but then you remember the feelings of helplessness and\u00a0entrapment, of being all alone in the open sea. No, getting into code was a childish mistake.<\/p>\n

But as time goes by you learn to control your fear and approach the sea again. This time without headless enthusiasm but slowly, with humility and respect for its unfathomable depths. You never stray too far away from the shore in one go. You learn to avoid nested loops and keep your regular expressions to a minimum. You always leave signposts if you need to retrace your path.<\/p>\n

Code will never be your friend. The sea will never be your lover. But maybe you can learn to get along just enough as to harness part of its limitless power… without losing yourself into it forever.\u00a0><\/code><\/p>\n

\"R<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you are looking for code here, move on. >\u00a0In the beginning, there was only the relentless blinking of the cursor. With the maddening regularity of waves splashing on the shore: blink, blink, blink, blink\u2026Beyond the cursor, the white wasteland of the empty page: vast, featureless, and terrifying as the sea. You stare at the empty page and primordial fear engulfs you: you are never gonna venture into this wasteland, you are never gonna leave the stable, solid, familiar world of menus and shortcuts, icons and buttons. And then you take the first cautious steps. print \u2018Hello world\u2019 > Hello world, the sea obliges. 1+1 > 2 2+2 > 4 You are still scared, but your curiosity is aroused. The playful responsiveness of the sea is tempting, and quickly becomes irresistible. Soon, you are jumpting around like a child, rolling upside-down and around and around: > a=2 > b=3 > a+b 5 > for (x in 1:60) print (x) 1\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 3\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 4\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 5\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 6\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 8\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 9\u00a0\u00a0 10\u00a0\u00a0 11\u00a0\u00a0 12\u00a0\u00a0 13\u00a0\u00a0 14\u00a0 15\u00a0\u00a0 16\u00a0\u00a0 17\u00a0\u00a0 18\u00a0\u00a0 19\u00a0\u00a0 20 \u00a0\u00a021\u00a0\u00a0 22\u00a0\u00a0 23\u00a0\u00a0 24\u00a0\u00a0 25\u00a0\u00a0 26\u00a0 27\u00a0\u00a0 28\u00a0\u00a0 29\u00a0\u00a0 30\u00a0\u00a0 31\u00a0\u00a0 32 \u00a0\u00a033\u00a0\u00a0 34\u00a0\u00a0 35\u00a0\u00a0 36\u00a0\u00a0 37\u00a0\u00a0 38\u00a0 39\u00a0\u00a0 40\u00a0\u00a0 41\u00a0\u00a0 42\u00a0\u00a0 43\u00a0\u00a0 44 \u00a0\u00a045\u00a0\u00a0 46\u00a0\u00a0 47\u00a0\u00a0 48\u00a0\u00a0 49\u00a0\u00a0 50\u00a0 51\u00a0\u00a0 52\u00a0\u00a0 53\u00a0\u00a0 54\u00a0\u00a0 55\u00a0\u00a0 56\u00a0\u00a0 57\u00a0\u00a0 58 \u00a0\u00a059\u00a0\u00a0 60 The sense of freedom is exhilarating. You take a deep breath and dive: > for (i in 1:10) ifelse (i>5, print (‘ha’), print (‘ho’)) [1] “ho” [1] “ho” [1] “ho” [1]…<\/p>\n

Continue readingSwimming in a sea of code<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[39],"tags":[133,524],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7g3hj-c5","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":38,"url":"http:\/\/re-design.dimiter.eu\/?p=38","url_meta":{"origin":749,"position":0},"title":"Texas vs. Science","date":"October 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"This is from the Guardian: Officials in Rick Perry's home state of Texas have set off a scientists' revolt after purging mentions of climate change and sea-level rise from what was supposed to be a landmark environmental report. 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