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I sometimes forget one of the main reasons I like programming, and that's that programming is fun. People can talk all they want about problem solving and helping others to accomplish tasks, but for me it's all about realizing that I can do it, and that's always been a fun thing. Granted, there's some code to write because some user (somewhere) needs a new feature, or there's a bug to be tracked down and squished, but the main reason I like programming is that it's, well, fun.
Of course, what with everything else, I had forgotten this. Life is busy and I'd generally gotten to the point where any programming I did was to do with something that others were asking me to do: give a technical presentation, write an article, consult with a start-up, deliver a course, or start another book. I was programming, and it was OK, but I was doing it to get to some end-point, not necessarily to have fun. I wasn't programming for the sake of programming; I was programming because I had to.
And then something wonderful happened.
I came across Erlang. Or to be more precise, I was pointed at Erlang by one of my past-students who wrote an intriguing article about an Erlang CMS called Zotonic for Linux Journal magazine. The author of the article, Michael Connors, then sent me an email together with a "you've gotta take a look at this!" plea. Based on this, I thought Erlang interesting enough to explore it more and I've been learning Erlang for a number of months now.
In fact, I've been programming in Erlang just for the heck of it!
I'd forgotten what this was like: writing code, realizing that I can do it, and then getting it to work can be so much fun! Nobody is asking me to write Erlang code. I'm also not writing the next-best killer Erlang application. And, I've not got some darn-hard problem that needs solving in Erlang. I'm simply programming in Erlang in my spare time and it's fun. What a lovely feeling.
Of course - me being me - I couldn't resist the opportunity to tell others about my latest language "find". So, when O'Reilly Media asked me if I wanted to do another webcast, I jumped at the chance. Feel free to check out my own personal take on Erlang. Enjoy, and have fun!
[Ed note: Are any of you HF readers programming in Erlang? Even if not, do you agree with Paul--if so, what is fun about programming for you?]
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I would definitely be down with a Head First Erlang.
Your post is really informative for people to let them know.
So when will the "Head First Erlang" be published?
There are no plans for a Head First Erlang at this stage... however, that's not to say that some of us aren't thinking that having such as book would make a nice addition to the series. --Paul.