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Career paths in computing

How Music and Programming Led Me to Build Digital Microworlds

By Andrew Sorensen
Communications of the ACM, September 2021, Vol. 64 No. 9, Page 7
10.1145/3476462
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I've always thought of programming as a vehicle for exploration and discovery. My first experience with a computer, at the age of 10, was an interactive programming experience with Seymour Papert's Logo language. In a special math class, held in a touring computer lab (our school didn't own computers!) we "discovered" the properties of various geometric primitives by interactively driving a little turtle around a monochrome screen through issued commands in the Logo programming language. I was hooked!

The ability to discover and experience world building is a relatively unique privilege afforded to computer programmers. Programming my little turtle literally helped me 'experience' geometry. How fortunate we are to be able to conceive of some microworld and then to attempt to create it, without requiring anything more than a computer and some power. In my early 20s, I remember thinking that with time and effort, I really can build anything. While clearly naive, such a mindset is something I truly hope to never outgrow.

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