viewpoints

Vdoi:10.1145/1965724.1965738 Mordechai (Moti) Ben-Ari Viewpoint Non-Myths About Programming Viewing computer science in a broader context to dispel common misperceptions about studying computer science.

his Viewpoint is based on my keynote speech at the Sixth International Com- puting Education Research Workshop, held in Aarhus, TDenmark last summer. The talk began with the presentation of a short play, Aunt Jennifer, in which Tiffany, a high school student, attributes her moth- er’s dreary and poverty-stricken life as a checkout clerk in a supermarket to rotten luck, while attributing the pleas- ant life of her Aunt Jennifer, a software engineer, to good luck. Despite her high grades in mathematics, Tiffany rejects her guidance counselor’s of- fer to help her obtain a scholarship to study computer science.a The decline of interest in studying computer science is usually attrib- uted to a set of perceptions that stu- dents have about the subject. Many educators react to these perceptions as if they were myths and try to refute Margaret Hamilton, chief software engineer for the development of the NASA Apollo program flight software, sitting in a mockup of the Apollo space capsule while checking programs them. I believe the perceptions of stu- she and her team developed. Hamilton received an Exceptional Space Act Award, one of only dents are roughly true when viewed in 128 awards granted from 1990 through 2003. isolation, and that the proper way to address these non-myths is to look at Here, I will express the non-myths must do. But even prestigious profes- them within the context of “real life.” in terms of programming. sions are not exempt from boredom: When examined in a broader context, a I have heard physicians and attorneys more valid image of computer science Non-Myth #1: complain about boredom. Consider can be sketched, and this can be used Programming is Boring physicians: either you become a gen- to provide more accurate guidance to It is one of the unfortunate facts of life eral practitioner and at least 9 out of NASA students who are deliberating whether that all professions become routine 10 patients come to you with routine, to study computer science. and even boring once you develop a “boring,” complaints, or you become a certain level of skill. Of course there are specialist, adept at performing a small h courtesy of p a The script of the play can be downloaded from innumerable “McJobs”—intrinsically number of procedures. After you have http://stwww.weizmann.ac.il/g-cs/benari/articles/ boring occupations in factories and done them hundreds or thousand hotogra p aunt-jennifer.pdf. service industries—that many people times, surely boredom sets in.

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We can partly blame television for more adventurous than a career as a the impression that certain occupa- programmer, but Tiffany should not tions are never routine or boring. The The decline of choose to become a pilot in the expec- patient is always diagnosed and cured interest in studying tation of fewer hours at work. Spend- within 45 minutes, which is precisely ing long hours in a cubicle in a hi-tech the amount of time it takes to catch computer science is firm, where your hours are flexible and and convict a criminal. Occasionally, usually attributed to you are free to go out for lunch or to the there are flashes of reality even on gym, is not as difficult as being cooped TV. “Law and Order” shows how de- a set of perceptions up in the small cockpit of an airplane tectives crack a case by following one that students have for many hours at a time, on a schedule small, frustrating clue after another. over which you have no control. But even here, the 45-minute straight- about the subject. jacket rules. Lt. Van Buren instructs Non-Myth #4: her detectives: “Well, the victim was Programming Is Asocial drunk, so check every bar within 10 Yes, but it depends what you mean by blocks.” Immediately, the scene cuts asocial. It is true that a programmer to the bartender who provides the doctors continue to perform physical spends long hours by herself in front next clue, but we don’t see the hours examinations, but many modern diag- of a computer screen, although there of fruitless investigation by the detec- nostic and surgical procedures involve are also meetings with team members tives and the junior police officers that “scopes” of various kinds, so that the and customers. There certainly are led to this moment. physician is frequently looking at a “social” professions where you are in The issue is not whether a subject computer screen. constant contact with other people. is boring or not, but your ability to live Tiffany is free to decide that options The problem is that in most cases the with particular types of routine that trading is more exciting than program- human contact is superficial and asym- can lead to boredom. Tiffany should be ming, but that choice is not going to metrical, because you don’t “chat” asking herself whether she prefers the save her from the constant use of com- with your “clients.” You may not even routine of working as a psychologist— puters. Certainly, sitting in front of a want to develop a warm relationship listening day-in, day-out to people com- computer developing software for an with your clients, for example, if you plaining that their parents screwed up insurance company is preferable to are a police detective interrogating their lives—over the routine of con- sitting in front of a computer entering hardened criminals. structing dozens of menu entries for data from insurance claims. A physician is almost always in the interface of an application. contact with other people, but much Non-Myth #3: You Have of that is superficial contact with pa- Non-Myth #2: You Spend to Work Long Hours tients. A consultation may take just 15 Most of Your Working Life in People who work in high-tech indus- or 20 minutes, once every few weeks Front of a Computer Screen tries complain about long hours, but or months. Certainly, the contact is For someone to refuse to study com- this is true of many occupations, in- asymmetrical: I tell my doctor every puter science for this reason is sim- cluding prestigious professions, in par- detail of my life that is related to my ply ridiculous. Many people sit in ticular, in the early stages before you health, while she tells me nothing front of computers all day. Computer achieve a high level of competence and about hers. screens are ubiquitous in all profes- the freedom to work independently. Nursing is considered to be one of sions in finance, administration, gov- The competition among young attor- the most caring of professions, but ernment offices, customer service, neys to clock hours is notorious. Young the reality of modern medical care and so forth. I am certain my travel scientists work long hours in an effort is far from the romantic image. I re- agent spends more time looking at to expand their list of publications dur- call being hospitalized for tests and her computer screen than I do. From ing the short period before they are re- feeling stressed out, but Chrissie watching movies like Wall Street and viewed for tenure. Williams and Donna Jackson (nurses Working Girl, I gather that securities In 1984, Libby Zion, an 18-year-old from the BBC medical soap opera traders spend their lives looking at six student, died in a New York hospital “Holby City”) did not come over to screens simultaneously. from a fatal drug interaction. She was hold my hand and reassure me. The Our medical system has recently being cared for by young, overworked, nurses at the hospital were them- undergone extensive computeriza- interns and residents, who were not selves stressed out with the responsi- tion: a patient’s history, test results, aware of a medication she had been bility for 40 patients, and they barely and diagnostic images are stored on taking. New York subsequently en- had time to perform the myriad tech- a network of computers. During a acted a law forbidding residents from nical aspects of the job such as ad- visit to a doctor, the patient sits qui- working more than 80 hours a week. ministering medication and measur- etly while the doctor reads the histo- In comparison, spending 50 hours a ing vital signs. ry, studies test results, orders X-rays, week working as a software engineer It is reasonable for Tiffany to writes prescriptions, and summarizes doesn’t seem so bad. choose to become a social worker be- the visit, all on a computer. Of course A career as an airline pilot sounds cause she likes helping people direct-

36 communications of the acm | july 2011 | vol. 54 | no. 7 viewpoints ly, but she must remember that she software is being outsourced. It is more she pursue a CS degree part time while will not become a friend to her clients. likely that her jewelry business will fail she tries to advance her singing career. when confronted with outsourced prod- Non-Myth #5: Programming Is Only ucts than it is that her programming job The Real World Is Not So Bad for Those Who Think Logically at Boeing or Airbus will be outsourced. I found the striking image appearing Well, yes. The nature of programming the beginning of this Viewpoint on needs clarification. I define program- Non-Myth #7. Programming the NASA Web site. The image shows ming as any activity where a computa- Is a Well-Paid Profession Margaret Hamilton sitting in a mock- tion is described according for formal That’s great. Potential earnings up of the Apollo space capsule. Ham- rules. Painting a picture is not program- shouldn’t be the only consideration ilton was the chief software engineer ming: first, it obviously does not de- when choosing a profession, but it is for the development of the Apollo scribe a computation, and, second, you not immoral to consider what sort of flight software. She and her team de- are free to break whatever rules there future you will be offering your family. veloped new techniques of software are. At worst, they will call you an “Im- It would be a good idea to remind Tif- engineering, which enabled their pressionist” and not buy your paintings fany that the chasm between the life- software to perform flawlessly on all until after you are dead. Constructing styles of her mother and Aunt Jennifer Apollo missions. Later, she went on to a Web site and building a spreadsheet is not the result of luck. establish her own software company. are both programming, because you I recently read the controversial Hamilton looks like she is having a have to learn the rules for describing book Freakonomics by Steven D. Lev- lot of fun checking out the programs the desired output (even if the rules itt and Stephen J. Dubner.1 The third that she and her team developed. I am concern a sequence of menu selec- chapter—“Why Do Drug Dealers Still sure the long hours and whatever rou- tions and drag-and-drop operations), Live with Their Moms?”—based upon tine work the job involved were placed and you have to debug incorrect results the work of sociologist Sudhir Ven- into perspective by the magnitude of that result from not following the rules. katesh3 is quite relevant to the issue of the challenge, and there is no question Tiffany’s good grades in mathemat- potential earnings. As a graduate stu- she felt immense satisfaction when her ics imply she has the ability to think dent, Venkatesh was able to observe software successfully landed Neil Arm- logically. She may prefer to study music and document the lives of the mem- strong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon. I so she can play violin in a symphony bers of a drug gang, and he eventually do not know if Hamilton felt locked out orchestra, but she should certainly con- obtained their financial records. These of the male-dominated “clubhouse,”2 sider studying computer science and were analyzed by Levitt, an economist, but my guess is that the difficulty of the her guidance counselor should insist who came up with the following con- task, the short schedule and the weight this alternative be thoroughly explored. clusion, expressed as a question: So if of the responsibility felt by the whole crack dealing is the most dangerous job team would have made such issues Non-Myth #6: Software in America, and if the salary was only practically nonexistent. Is Being Outsourced $3.30 an hour, why on earth would any- Teachers, parents, and guidance Of course it is. However, the share of one take such a job? The answer: Well, counselors have the responsibility software being outsourced is relatively for the same reason that a pretty Wiscon- to explain the facts of life to talented small compared with that in manufac- sin farm girl moves to Hollywood. For the young people: computer science and turing. This is not a fluke but an intrinsic same reason that a high-school quarter- programming may seem like bor- aspect of software. Almost by definition, back wakes up at 5 a.m. to lift weights. ing activities suitable only for asocial “soft”-ware is used whenever flexibil- They all want to succeed in an extremely geeks, but a career like Margaret Ham- ity and adaptation to requirements is competitive field in which, if you reach ilton’s is more fulfilling and more re- needed. If a machine tool is going to the top, you are paid a fortune (to say warding than what awaits those who turn out the same screw throughout its nothing of the attendant glory and pow- do not study science and engineering entire lifetime, it can be outsourced and er). The result: The problem with crack based upon superficial perceptions of programmed in “hard”-ware. dealing is the same as in every other these professions. Software development can also be a glamour profession: a lot of people are path to other professional activities like competing for a very few prizes. Earning References 1. levitt, S.D. and Dubner, S.J. Freakonomics: A Rogue systems design and marketing, since big money in the crack gang wasn’t much Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. software reifies the proprietary knowledge more likely than the Wisconsin farm girl Allan Lane, London, 2005. 2. Margolis, J. and Fisher, A. Unlocking the Clubhouse: of a firm. A bank might outsource the becoming a movie star or the high-school Women in Computing. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2002. building of its Web site, but it is not like- quarterback playing in the NFL. 3. Venkatesh, S. Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Crosses the Line. Allan Lane, London, 2008. ly to outsource the development of soft- Ambition to succeed in a glam- ware to implement algorithms for pric- our profession is not something to be Mordechai (Moti) Ben-Ari ([email protected]) is an ing options or analyzing risk, because deplored, but a young person must associate professor in the Department of Science Teaching at Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, and this proprietary knowledge is what con- receive advice and support on what an ACM Distinguished Educator. tributes directly to the bank’s success. to do if she is not the 1 in 10,000 who It would be reasonable for Tiffany succeeds. If Tiffany wants to become a I would like to thank Mark Guzdial for his helpful to prefer designing jewelry over study- professional singer, I would not try to comments on an earlier version of this Viewpoint. ing computer science, but not because dissuade her, but I would prefer that Copyright held by author.

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