The wrong reason

25/2/2025

The wrong reason to get married is "to have sex". The right reason would be "to have sex with the right person".

The wrong reason to diet is "to be thin". The right reason would be "to be healthy".

If you start something with the wrong reasons, be prepared to see the 'wrong' results. The result is not wrong though - it's your expectations that is out of sync with whatever results.

The wrong reasons to learn computer programming

~~I prefer if we~~ Let's talk about computer programming.

I learned about computers and programming for the wrong reasons.

A great friend of mine taught me how to bypass winlogon (in simple English: imagine able to log into Windows without ever need to know the password).

This friend of mine, a freaking genius, is so far ahead, that our school IT guy could barely catch up with him.

He inspired me. I was determined to learn more.

But because of the wrong reasons, I was delusional.

I thought computers are for hacking, and anyone who doesn't hack is dumb.

Boy, was I wrong. There is so much more to computer and programming...

Don't learn programming for these reasons:

for hacking or to become hacker
to get job in software engineering
to pass credit requirements in course

But learn programming, for this 1 reason:

to automate the Computadora!

Computers don't listen to us. They listen to programs written for them.

That program is written by you. You tell the computers what to do, how to do it, when to do it, and where to do it.

That's automation. You can solve many problems with it, or create new ones.

A computer is just a machine. By itself it doesn't anything.

With automation (in the form of programs, software, systems, games, database), it can do a lot.

Other reasons are just as valid

Sure, you can learn C++, Java or PHP all you like, become software engineer, web developer, or security analyst if you want to. But if (you are someone who) think Javascript is just to animate stuff on the webpage, or Python is solely for penetration testing, you are outright wrong. Valid, but wrong.

If you ask for water, you get a glass of water. But if you ask for a glass, you only get glass.

Once you understand that computer is problem-solving machine ready to be automated and nothing more, you are understanding the knowledge from the pinnacle of context.

If you learn to automate the machine (e.g. computer), you'll learn programming and problem-solving. But if you learn just programming, you'll learn just programming (or if you learn just web development, you learn just web development).

Mohamad Shahrim

author of The Laksamana