你们老家的人是怎么看待程序员这个职业的？

小时候，父母不喜欢让我用电脑。经常讽刺我，比如这样：

"Daniel only knows how to press buttons" / "Stop pressing buttons!"

（别老玩按钮！）指的是键盘吧？除了发邮件和打字以外，他们一点也不理解计算机能用来做什么。

所以一直不能理解我在做什么。早就习惯，然后懒得给他们解释。只要屏幕上显示满页代码，或者命令行之类的，他们直接认为我在做坏事，比如hack某个东西。

然后下次电脑上发生了什么小问题，全是"You broke it!"；你把电脑弄坏了！

又怀疑我所以不让我帮助，硬要找卖电脑的那个老头过来，帮他们又一次初始化。

（真浪费钱，可能只是分辨率变了，这种小事；无语。。。）如果IE的桌面icon不见了，他们就疯了：“You deleted the internet!!!"；你把整个互联网删了！

甚至以为所有邮件等内容都消失了，把我骂一顿。二十年过去了，他们还在用IE。连弟弟妹妹都还在用。好惭愧。

最烦的是父母后来反复劝弟弟妹妹不要玩电脑，导致其他孩子一点都不熟悉计算机，更别说编程。今天，用计算机程序进行自动交易（以及所有工作内容），父母是不可能明白的。比如上个礼拜回约克回过圣诞的这个对话：Dad: “Hey so what is your new company doing?”

爸爸：你这个新公司到底在做什么？

Me: "Bets and Trades on sports. We do quite a lot of trading.....etc....."

我：运动市场上面的交易，就是下注。我们交易量很大。。。等等

Dad: "...etc...OK, Why don't you let Samuel or Benjamin do an internship in London?"

爸爸：好吧，那你的三弟Ben和四弟Sam能否到你们公司实习之类的？（高三和大三的年龄）

Me: "Probably won't be helpful as they don't know any programming"

我：不是很适合，因为他们不会编程

Dad: "But they are quite good at maths too, maybe you can teach them?"

爸爸：但是他们数学也很不错，还是可以教教他们？

Me: "I don't mind teaching them, but programming is kind of an important basic skill these days, and you never let them learn anything useful like that, it would be a huge waste of time" 我：我不介意教他们，但是编程是当代世界一门不可缺少的基本能力。你从来不让他们熟悉这种有用的东西。只会浪费双方的时间。

Dad: "Well, you can let them do some repetitive task. Makes it easier for you, and they can try to learn from there?" 爸爸：你可以让他们做些什么重复性的小任务。减少你们的压力，然后他们可以从此开始学？ Me: "You know Dad, if there was something repetitive, we wouldn't need humans to do it; those are the exactly the kind of things we'd use programming for!" 我：爸爸，你知道吗？就算有一件能够重复的事情，这就不需要人类来干。正是我们最需要写程序来负责的那种事。

Dad: "..."

Dad: "Surely there are some repetitive things that the computers can't do?”

Dad："Like someone to press the buttons"

爸爸：总有一些不需要计算机的事情了吧？比如按钮之类的。

Me: "No, its all automatic. Maybe they can help with the research, but that also needs programming, not just maths."

我：能自动的全都是已经自动的了。他们也许可以帮忙研究策略，但是这一套更加需要编程，不仅需要数学。

Dad: "I'm sure they are smart enough to do it"

爸爸：他们肯定足以聪明（做研究）

Me: "Yes but you spent N years encouraging them to learn skills which aren't useful. I mean, exactly what kind of job are they going to be able to do 20 years from now? You should have thought about this 10 years ago, its too late now."

我：是的，他们很聪明，但是你花了N年鼓励他们学各种没用的技术。二十年以后，他们到底还能做什么工作？你十年前应该考虑到这个问题了，现在太晚了。

Dad: "They are good at different things...(etc...)"

爸爸：他们擅长不同的领域，跟你不一样，等等。

Me: "But everything they know how to do, and what they want to do, is a 'repetitive skill', the whole way they think about problems is about 'repeating' something. e.g. X, e.g. Y. Its hard for them to change. Of course its going to be much more difficult for them in future. If you'd been more supportive of me, it would have helped a lot as well, instead of shouting at me every time I used the computer (and so on...) "

我：可是他们至今学到的那些，他们所想做的那些，也都属于“可重复”。他们整个处理问题的思维都围绕着“重复”这个词。比如Ｘ，比如Ｙ。他们已经长大了，难以改变。将来找工作当然会难一些。如果你当时多鼓励我，我也会比现过得更好。小时候，天天骂我用电脑，这就不对了。

Dad: "But life is not just about computers."

爸爸：“除了计算机以外，生活中还需要许多其他的技术。”

Me: "Of course, but..."

我：“当然，可是。。。”之后接着讲了一小时左右。也蛮有意思的。挖掘了我爸爸对计算机的各种误解和狭隘观点。最后，算是让他明白了不少东西。其中一个亮点就是他答应让五弟Joshua（初一年龄）多学习多探索计算机。把排斥心态转为鼓励心态，这肯定对Josh有帮助。（另外我认为只有Josh比我聪明）