Baffled by how the general perception of programming is that it's not a creative hobby, as if it doesn't involve making countless decisions based on your vision for the finished product just the same as any other art form >:U

When you live on computers like so many of us do, programming is literally bending the fabric of reality. It's MAGIC! You can do LITERALLY ANYTHING* with it!!! I cannot stress enough how much the world opens up when you realize what sorts of things you can write or use programs to do. Sure, you can make tools that are generally practical (and yeah, those can be really nice), but you can also make things that are really only useful to you, or not useful at all and just fun! It's not like you're limited to only making boring things you'll never use, no matter how dull and confusing online programming tutorials make the process seem.

((* Except tell when a program will run forever. You can't do that. You can do most other things though!!))

And even when you only have one specific thing you want to do, there are as many ways to implement it as there are people to give it a go. While there are generally accepted "good ways" of doing certain things, really, there are no hard and fast rules. If you write something that does what it needs to do, it's usually fine no matter how you accomplish it. I always end up putting a lot of myself into programs I write, and I imagine it's the same for other people. Programming is EXTREMELY creative, and artistic, and fun!!!

For such a popular thing, the public perception of it as a hobby is horrible, and I think that's just a shame. Not only is it not too hard for most people to learn (the usual worry), it's ALSO not boring (or for professionals only, for that matter)! Programming as an artistic hobby deserves better rep fr