Something I've been thinking about recently...
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I'm not trying to start a flamewar about whether coding is art, architecture or construction. I'm curious about your hobbies... How many of you coders have 'artistic' hobbies such as painting, drawing, carving, composing, writing etc... Do you think that the 'artistic' outlet helps you in your day job? If you don't mind sharing, what are your hobbies?
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I'm not trying to start a flamewar about whether coding is art, architecture or construction. I'm curious about your hobbies... How many of you coders have 'artistic' hobbies such as painting, drawing, carving, composing, writing etc... Do you think that the 'artistic' outlet helps you in your day job? If you don't mind sharing, what are your hobbies?
I have my BA in Fine Art and I'm a musician. I got into computers when I was hired to animate some illustrations I had done for a HyperCard application back in the early 90's. Started as a Photoshop weenie, then worked on sound effects and foley stuff. Then got into the animation code later when we moved from HyperCard to Macromedia Director. Took one programming class in college and got a D. Pascal and Fortran X| For me programming was a creative process. But now it is a way to pay the mortgage. Not very much creativity welling up from a document tracking system! :sigh:
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I'm not trying to start a flamewar about whether coding is art, architecture or construction. I'm curious about your hobbies... How many of you coders have 'artistic' hobbies such as painting, drawing, carving, composing, writing etc... Do you think that the 'artistic' outlet helps you in your day job? If you don't mind sharing, what are your hobbies?
I play guitar and write songs, and I grow a lot of our food on our farm. I think it's very different to coding and gives me a different outlet, and a good way to clear my mind.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
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I've been thinking about taking up an instrument... No idea which. Piano or maybe guitar. I think guitar may be to easy though... I can play expert on Rock Band, afterall... *Rolling eyes* (Just ignore me!)
I think guitar is easier than piano, especially the basics.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
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In my spare time I bake. Mostly sourdough bread which I bake in a wood-fired oven. But I bake anything - pies, cakes, cookies, etc. I'm more interested in the theory of music than in the playing (although I did start learning violin) as I find the mathematics of it fascinating and how that can be translated, though sound, to something that can affect the emotions.
It’s not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it’s because we do not dare that things are difficult. ~Seneca
interesting - I think the thing that most held me back as a guitarist and musician early on, was taking too mathematical an approach, getting too tied up in music theory. For example, guitar magazines will often analyse a solo and tell you all the scales the guitarist used, but they usually are over analysing a sequence of notes the guy played because they sounded good.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
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I'm not trying to start a flamewar about whether coding is art, architecture or construction. I'm curious about your hobbies... How many of you coders have 'artistic' hobbies such as painting, drawing, carving, composing, writing etc... Do you think that the 'artistic' outlet helps you in your day job? If you don't mind sharing, what are your hobbies?
Science Fiction Books/reading not writing/, Computer Games/what a surprise!/, Military History/the real one, not the Discovery Chanel interpretations/, RC Helicopters/recently/, writing comic articles/not much time for this lately, but they used to be pretty popular once upon a time/.
The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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I think guitar is easier than piano, especially the basics.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
Cause there is a lot of crappy easy guitar out there to copy! :-D I have played guitar, mandolin, banjo and uke for almost 30 years. It is easier to pick out a simple song on a guitar than on a piano. But most of the piano players I know really know their stuff. Not all of them though. There is a piano player in my best friends band that has to poke the transpose button on his keyboard for every song because he can only play in C (the white keys)! :| I played the guitar for almost 20 years before I really understood music. It is easy to learn a few chord shapes on the guitar and bang out a Neil Young song.
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I'm not trying to start a flamewar about whether coding is art, architecture or construction. I'm curious about your hobbies... How many of you coders have 'artistic' hobbies such as painting, drawing, carving, composing, writing etc... Do you think that the 'artistic' outlet helps you in your day job? If you don't mind sharing, what are your hobbies?
Hobbies: Yard landscaping, guitar, photography, home improvement (major), martial arts, programming, electronics design, rolling on the floor with puppies... Does it help? Not really. But some keep me in shape to do things that others at work can't, both physical and mental.
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
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Cause there is a lot of crappy easy guitar out there to copy! :-D I have played guitar, mandolin, banjo and uke for almost 30 years. It is easier to pick out a simple song on a guitar than on a piano. But most of the piano players I know really know their stuff. Not all of them though. There is a piano player in my best friends band that has to poke the transpose button on his keyboard for every song because he can only play in C (the white keys)! :| I played the guitar for almost 20 years before I really understood music. It is easy to learn a few chord shapes on the guitar and bang out a Neil Young song.
And tons of books. And tablature means you don't even need to learn to read music. Yeah, I've been playing for 20 years, and I find where before I really struggled to write, now I can churn out riffs all day long, and make them fit with each other. I think it has to do with the age you are when you've had 20 years to play, as well as the experience.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
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DavidCrow wrote:
Right now I'm adding a room to our garage. I've done everything except texture the walls. I just don't trust myself enough.
If you're unsure of your skills the garage is the perfect place to test them. The impact from a botched job is far lower than anywhere else in the house.
3x12=36 2x12=24 1x12=12 0x12=18
I agree... Part of the reason I haven't been able to make anything in a couple of years was that we bought a fixer upper house and have been fixer-uppering it ever since... (Well over a year now...) Texture is hard to mess up... If you splatter a wall and you don't like it, scrape it off before it dries. And, as always, the right tool for the job makes it MUCH faster and consistent.
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Matthew Page wrote:
What do you like to make?
Stuff for around the house (e.g, bookcases, clocks, furniture), decks, gifts, etc. I want to start on a cedar hope chest soon for my daughter. Right now I'm adding a room to our garage. I've done everything except texture the walls. I just don't trust myself enough.
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"Man who follows car will be exhausted." - Confucius
I made a couple built in bookcases for our house... Need a couple nice standalone cases... I'll just add that to the end of the list of projects for after the house is completed... I may get to it before I die... (The list is very long...) Are you going to use a plan to build the cedar hope chest or 'wing it'?
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interesting - I think the thing that most held me back as a guitarist and musician early on, was taking too mathematical an approach, getting too tied up in music theory. For example, guitar magazines will often analyse a solo and tell you all the scales the guitarist used, but they usually are over analysing a sequence of notes the guy played because they sounded good.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
I noticed in an earlier post that you said that you find it MUCH easier to pound out riff after riff now where you didn't when you were younger. Do you think that is because you focused to much on theory back then which impeded your progress or because or is it easier now because you have such a solid basis in theory?
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I noticed in an earlier post that you said that you find it MUCH easier to pound out riff after riff now where you didn't when you were younger. Do you think that is because you focused to much on theory back then which impeded your progress or because or is it easier now because you have such a solid basis in theory?
I don't think theory has much to do with it, actually. I mean, yeah, I do know a lot more theory, and, being a programmer, I've always thought in terms of theory, and understanding on that level. But, I write a lot of riffs in my head, and then know how to play them. Usually the first bit of a song starts with a theory based idea, like, what if I played chord shapes up and down on these two strings and had a droning A below it the whole time ? But, after the first riff, it's most likely that I'll have a musical idea of where it should go, that's not really based consciously on considering any sort of music theory.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
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Vehicle mechanics. Not exactly artistic, but I feel better after making something better. I wish to take up oxy-acetylene welding sometime soon so I can start flamewars. And it sometimes helps in my day job when the office generator or UPS doesn't work as expected.
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I think I may have been an auto mechanic if I wasn't seduced by the family Apple 2e a hundred years ago... Similar satisfaction when something that didn't work before you started monkeying with it wheezes back to life...
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I write code. I am sad to say it's my hobby and my profession. I am completely talentless when it comes to pretty much everything else. I like fishing, but don't get much time for it and am pretty poor at catching fish.
Ahh... The zen of fishing is that it isn't about catching fish...
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Hobbies: Yard landscaping, guitar, photography, home improvement (major), martial arts, programming, electronics design, rolling on the floor with puppies... Does it help? Not really. But some keep me in shape to do things that others at work can't, both physical and mental.
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
Do you think the martial arts improves life more than just being in better shape/stronger and being able to go Chuck Norris on someone if they try to jump you?
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I'm not trying to start a flamewar about whether coding is art, architecture or construction. I'm curious about your hobbies... How many of you coders have 'artistic' hobbies such as painting, drawing, carving, composing, writing etc... Do you think that the 'artistic' outlet helps you in your day job? If you don't mind sharing, what are your hobbies?
I have absolutely no musical or artistic ability, 0. That part of my brain does not exist. As for hobbies I spend a lot of time programming for free (or helping others with their computers also for free) when I am not on the clock. Edit: Since others have mentioned I also can do just about any home repair or construction and I also can repair appliances and fix cars. I have been fixing cars since the 1979 when I was 7. On the weekends the misses and I do usually do about 30 to 50 miles per day on our bicycles on the local trail.
John
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Do you think the martial arts improves life more than just being in better shape/stronger and being able to go Chuck Norris on someone if they try to jump you?
I can't see how the one opposites the other?
The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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Matthew Page wrote:
If you don't mind sharing, what are your hobbies?
Making sawdust.
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"Man who follows car will be exhausted." - Confucius
Damn I miss that, I have not made sawdust for years. I used the make all sorts of things, mostly with pine, I miss not having a workshop.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH
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I write code. I am sad to say it's my hobby and my profession. I am completely talentless when it comes to pretty much everything else. I like fishing, but don't get much time for it and am pretty poor at catching fish.
hammerstein05 wrote:
I am sad to say it's my hobby and my profession
You're not the only one, I envy those with musical talent as I am completely bereft of any ability to product musical sounds.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH