Programming

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What are the craziest misconceptions you’ve heard about programming from people not familiar with it? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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As someone who spends time programming, I of course find myself in conversations with people who aren't as familiar with it. It doesn't happen all the time, but these discussions can lead to people coming up with some pretty wild misconceptions about what programming is and what programmers do.

I'm sure many of you have had similar experiences. So, I thought it would be interesting to ask.

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[–] [email protected] 50 points 8 months ago (2 children)

            
              You're a hacker (only if you count the shit I program as hacks, being hack jobs)
You can fix printers
You're some sort of super sherlock for guessing the reason behind problems (they'll tell you "my computer is giving me an error", fail to provide further details and fume at your inability to guess what's wrong when they fail to replicate)
If it's on the screen, it's production ready

[–] [email protected] 21 points 8 months ago (1 children)

If it’s on the screen, it’s production ready

"I gave you a PNG, why can't you just make it work?"

[–] [email protected] 17 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I actually get that somewhat often, but for 3D printing. People think a photo of a 3D model is "the model"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Dude, I would just 2d print the png they sent and give them the piece of paper.

If they complained, I would say: "I literally printed the thing you told me to print."

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

I've had questions like your 3rd bullet point in relation to why somebody's friend is having trouble with connecting a headset to a TV.

No idea. I don't know what kind of headset or what kind of TV. They are all different Grandma.