Subj : Re: do serious programmers have a life?
To   : comp.programming
From : John
Date : Mon Sep 26 2005 11:01 am

<gswork@mailcity.com> wrote in message 
news:1127729296.712332.297170@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
>
> John wrote:
>> >do serious programmers have a life?
>>
>> A life? ... as in ... 'get a life'?
>>
>> I hate that phrase
>>
>> IMO; if you have a passion and pursue your passion ... how could you
>> possibly have more of a life than that?
>
> It tells you more about the person saying it that it does about the
> person to whom it is directed.

Thanks ... I think ... ;-)

I suppose you could even say that whether your comment is seen as positive 
or negative says something about the reader.

[snip]
> The only point to the saying is to recognise that there are other joys
> in life you can miss out on without realising life is poorer without
> them, this is especially true where the focus of your life is one
> pursued compulsively without joy but not true for most folks of the
> kind i think you have in mind.

I see where you are coming from, but if you pursue something compulsively 
without joy, does it qualify as a passion?  I suppose it may be true for 
addicts.  Where the addict pursues his next fix, then regrets the decisions 
to get thier fix.  These are the people who need to get a life, but as 
strange as it may seem, but I've never heard anybody telling them to "get a 
life".

There are also people who pursue their passions at all cost.  For example; I 
believe Thomas Edison was estranged from his wife, pursuing his passion cost 
him his family.  Personally, that's not a route I would want to go, but who 
would say Thomas Edison didn't have a life?  I bet there were plenty before 
his first major accomplishment.

[snip]
> anyway, great post

Thanks,
John

.