It has occurred to me that a lot of what I use my computer for is something related to the computer itself, like programming or reading about programming.  This led me to think, how many people use their computers more for the sake of using the computer than to actually do something?  Sure, I spend plenty of time writing music, using Photoshop or just playing games.  But my major is in computer science, which uses programming as its primary tool of applying its concepts.

So how many people use their computers to make the computer better?  After all, that’s all that programming is, right, a way to make a computer better?  There are no applications that I know of that animate a monkey eating a banana; writing one would suddenly make the computer that much better, right?  Think of all the time that has been spent on programming major applications and OS’s like Linux, PHP, Apache, and so on.  What are all these for?  To allow someone, somewhere, to do a task better.  Why were they programmed?  To improve the computer.

See, there’s a fundamental difference between using a computer to paint a picture and using it to program Painter 7.  In the first case, the computer merely serves as the brush for the artist to transfer her thoughts.  In the second, the computer is also a tool, but it is a tool to allow the programmer to express himself through code and to create a program to improve the computing experience.

Why do I bring all this up?  Who knows.  This whole blog seems to be an extension of my own stream of consciousness.  The point, I would suppose, is, do you use a computer because you have to or because you want to?  Do you use it because it provides the means for you to do something, or because you like using the computer?  Personally, I fall into the latter category.  What about the rest of you?