What A Clever Programmer Can Do

“You know it’s underground. You know the color of the stone. That’d be enough for a clever man.” – A quote from V for Vendetta.

If the color of the stone is enough for a clever man, I guess, a line of code is enough for a clever programmer to do an ordinary or an extraordinary thing. I don’t know if we can call cleverness as a skill or ability but for a hobbyist, it’s a characteristic that could make a simple thing to a wonderful one.

So, what can a clever programmer do?

Understanding what a line of code can do to a program is one important thing a programmer must learn. It’s an advantage. By the way, there’s a big difference on understanding what a function or method does and understanding what a line of code does. And I know you understand what I mean.

Understanding a piece of code may result into a good new idea. I remember when I first learned how to create a loop. I used it to scare my classmate by running an infinite string to his program. That thing might be naughty but my cleverness on a piece of code gave me idea on what more it can do. Cleverness will help a programmer to be more productive yet more destructive. But, of course, we should focus on being a productive one.

Another thing is, do you think hackers are too clever to become hackers? I guess so, their cleverness brought them to where they are now. Cleverness gave them the knowledge about most of things about computers. Oops! I am telling that cleverness could make you bad for I believe that hacking isn’t bad too. Well, it always depends.

I hope that this simple quick post made some sense for newbie programmers out there. Be clever!

“Computer science education cannot make anybody an expert programmer any more than studying brushes and pigment can make somebody an expert painter.”
– Eric Raymond