What computer science does to you...

             

You might have come across these people. They make jokes, you won’t understand,  they pull all nighters fixing one bug, they live on coffee and they find The Big Bang Theory funny. These people constitute a species of humans called ‘Computer scienticus ‘. They are Homo sapiens specialized in computer science and to some extent, they have become a totally different species.  I don’t know if that’s evolution or regression but these people are definitely not normal.

            How did they get to be so different? Well, there can only be one explanation; the elixir that has over time poisoned their minds, Computer science. It’s like a drug that has given them the illusion that nothing is impossible, all problems have solutions and it all starts with a strategy. They will tend to speak in weird languages called codes so they appear smart but that’s just another proof of their intoxication. They tend to think they are normal because they haven’t yet realized that they are drunk. The catch is what they do for a living is work magic.

            I know there are magic tricks and Santa but my definition of real magic is slightly different. Magic happens when a problem is solved at the right time and place. When there is a medical emergency and all have to do is call an ambulance. That’s magic. When you need to retrieve information and you press a button, it is fetched from wherever it was. That’s magic. Now, Computer scientists are the guys whose brains are trained to make magic. They are the guys, who worry about what goes on in the background, so that everyone else doesn’t have to.

            In short, here is what computer science does to you. It makes you ‘high’. It makes you think strategically, makes you see the world in objects, loops and Booleans .There appears to be no impossible problem because all you have to do type in some code and stuff magically happens. It all seems natural because the world was created with the words of mouth anyway. Everyone else notices that you are drunk but they keep hoping you’ll wake up to reality and the sad part is you won’t since this effect isn’t just temporary.

           

            You might have come across computer scientists and wondered how they can be so ‘drunk’. Well, now you know why. If I had the power to reformat education all over the world, I would make sure each and everyone knows how to code. I don’t mind having a world of ‘drunk’ people, after all they work magic. Computer science is simply magic; don’t expect its experts to be normal.

           

Computer science, games and all

            So, the stereotypical computer scientist is the guy who writes code and surfs the internet in the day and plays games in the night. The stereotypical computer scientist not only plays games but also makes them; some even devout their career to making games. The stereotype is a computer scientist is incomplete without games; that’s why there is never a product of computer scientists without games. There are two ways to think of computer games.

            Well, to start with games are a good source of entertainment, a healthy way to completely indulge in a completely ‘different’ universe that simulates an imaginary universe actively. It’s the reason they are the first baby courses. They have a tendency to push one’s thinking to the limits in other words, make people think. They too have a tendency to get creative juices flowing. They encapsulate the whole concept of problem solving. Besides that games are the guys who have mastered the art of boredom.

            With all the goodies, games also have a tendency to addiction. Just one more game and I’m done. Only after it has gone on for hours, does one really stop. And that’s not all, while on it gamers, adults and children alike tend to get so engrossed in a virtual world that they imitate it in the real world. Unfortunately in the real world, there is no undo button and neither do people earn a living by scoring points nor do people solve problems with guns. I thought computer science was all about problem solving. What a paradox?

            So; the smartest (or considered to be) people ‘solve problems’ by corrupting people’s minds. Is that all they can come up with? This is quite a paradox. Here is what I think, when we computer scientists design games, we assume the consumer of the product has enough common sense to know the right kind of use of the product. If not then that’s unfortunate.

            The beauty of games in the eyes of the programmer lies in its power of creation. Designing a game is similar to creating a whole new universe with its own set of rules and rewards, guess who makes the rules? Yeah, everyone likes being a boss; programmers are no exception to that rule. Stereotypes can be pretty narrow sometimes. Just in the same way we think computer scientists should be geeks and males, we might also be wrong on games. Games can actually do some good to the brain. In lieu of that thought, programmers have a big opportunity to influence people’s brain, let’s not abuse that power and solve problems instead.