Programming Addiction

Sorry, no clever titles today.  I haven't personally done much this last week in relation to our project.  Instead, I've been catching up on some other work and then two days realizing and pondering the hazardous addiction of programming.

I believe I've mentioned that my dad is a computer programmer.  Growing up I remember that sometimes he would stay up really late working on a project.  When we would interrupt him to say goodnight he was always surprised that it was time for us to be going to bed.  As I grew up I thought maybe that was one of those "one-track mind" things, but as I have continually been reminded during my studies here at the College of Charleston, it is simply the addiction of programming.

I believe this addiction is something any programmer can relate to.  Maybe you don't always need to be programming, but once you start a project it is amazingly difficult to walk away.  I had two programming assignments that needed to be done this weekend, both of which were experiences of growing and stretching my abilities.  I actually enjoyed working on them for the most part.  Trying to understand why a few things weren't working in a C-language program was not so fun, but the rest of it was.  However, the hazards of the ability to get lost in a program and have no concept of time are realized the next day, or in my case, the next several days.

When I began my projects I fully intended to get up and take a short walk every hour, or at least every 90 minutes.  I knew this was important for me to do because of a back injury I had a few years ago.  For the most part my back is better, but it tends to flare up again if I sit at a computer for too long.  Add pregnancy back pain on top of that and movement becomes absolutely crucial to my survival.  However, about 30 minutes into my assignments I lost all awareness of the passage of time (and hunger, which is really something considering that I'm 5 months pregnant!).  The only thing that would bring me back to reality was my husband's interruptions, but even those couldn't pull me away from my computer for long.

On to the hazards: immobility and pain.  I unfortunately had to miss the last few days of class because of back pain and exhaustion.  I'm getting back on track with a renewed sense of urgency to NOT sit for more than an hour and a half and making sure I take time to stretch my back, but recovery is a lot slower without the medication I was able to take before.  And on that note...It is time for a walk.

For a humorous look at pain, check out Brian Regan...