What is programming really about?

March 15, 2015

A programmer was asked an interview question - If you had to construct a swimming pool for Mark Zuckerberg and had no budget limit to your project, describe the pool you will make?

Now this guy didn't have a clue about how swimming pools are made or what are the requirements for one. But his answer was what you can expect out of a programmer.

His answer - Let's consider the components here - A pool, a fountain nearby, a changing room, a bar, a resting/sunbathing area, and some other stuff rich people have by their pools. Since here we are referring only the pool, I will only describe the pool. Also since Mark loves Star Wars, this would be a Star Wars themed pool.

Let's consider the pool to be rectangular with a standard size of 16ft by 32ft. Now for lights, there will be one at every 4 ft along the perimeter. The colors of the lights will change if Mark decides to select Sith theme or a Jedi theme. On a closer look at the each of the light you will see a distinct star wars character on each of them, which will only be visible when you are close enough. The lights will also ..... gets interrupted by the interviewer

Interviewer - Let's move on to another question.

Programmer - But I haven't finished my answer sir....... in fact, I had barely started.

Interviewer(who was a wise man) - You don't need to, you're shortlisted for the next round.

Programming is about taking a problem (making the pool) and defining a solution to it(size of pool, lights, right down to each light) where every small detail is elaborated cause you are trying to convey it to the dumbest thing on a planet(a computer)