Ten years of friends | @张京: I have been programming for thirty years, and programming is my symbol

Programming is my means of changing the world. Every line of program we write is actually changing the world more or less. At least you are spending electricity, right? —— Zhang Jing

Today, ten years ago, SegmentFault was officially established, like a young green shoot that began to grow. During this period, it carried the warm sunlight, bathed in the soft spring breeze, challenged the torrential rain, and experienced the bitter winter snow. Fortunately, the SegmentFault Sifu presented to us today has grown into a big tree that can withstand some wind and rain. This kind of growth cannot be separated from the pruning of the administrators, and it is also inseparable from the planting of every user in the community.

As Qi Ning, one of the founders of SegmentFault, said:

"SegmentFault is a community that belongs to everyone, so at this special time, we want to celebrate it with the members of the community."

In the past ten years, thousands of developers have joined the SegmentFault community. We are excited to see every new face, and we are also moved by the old friends in the community who have accompanied them for many years. It's like meeting an old friend who has known each other for many years. Maybe old friends will suddenly disappear in a certain period of time, but disappearing does not mean never seeing each other again, but the sentence after the reunion: long time no see.

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Today, we are honored to invite our old friend @张京to participate in our 10-year Friends series of interviews.

I have something to say:

In the interview, I learned that Mr. Zhang has been in the programming industry for 30 years, and this number may not be much different from the age of most users in our community. It is quite difficult to remain unchanged for 30 years, but the old boy said that programming has become his symbol. If he cannot continue to program, part of the meaning of his life will disappear forever.

I don't know how to describe it, but I was really moved by this feeling. For Mr. Zhang, losing programming is not just losing a job in the ordinary sense, but it is like a plant losing sunlight and rain, losing its life. part of it is alive.

The following is the content of SegmentFault's interview with Zhang Jing:

1. Do you remember your first acquaintance with SegmentFault? What kind of coincidence did you step into this community?

The first question I answered was in January 2015, about MySQL statements; the first question was in February 2015, about Python development tools, more than 7 years ago.

At that time, I was learning about the development of AI-related aspects. When I searched for information on the Internet, I found the website Sifu. I thought it was a good knowledge sharing platform, so I stepped into this community. My first article on Sifu was written in May 2016, more than a year after I entered the community. The main content is the difference between front-end px and rem. At that time, the main idea of writing that article was that I felt that I had something to say, but it was neither a question nor an answer, but a summary and sharing of my personal experience, so I wrote an article and shared it.

I always feel that Sifu's article editor is the best editor I have ever used. Whether it is the downloaded independent installation software or the website, it is not as easy to use as Sifu, so I have always regarded Sifu as my main force for so many years. Use the Markdown editor. If you have any ideas, you can write them in and keep them as drafts at any time. When you need them, you can organize them into articles and publish them at any time.

2. Have you witnessed any changes in Sifu over the years? Which part of it touched you the most? On the way to grow up with Si, what do you think you have changed?

Sifu has added a lot of functions over the years, at least the ones I have used include courses, notes, etc., but I use the traditional articles and Q&A functions the most. For me, Sifu is really a writing facilitator, it can stimulate my desire to write and make me willing to write some experience summaries on this platform to share with my friends. I have created a WeChat official account, a blog website, and a Weibo, but none of them can make me want to write, only thinking can attract me. I guess the main reason may be that thinking is specific enough. Focus on the technology itself. Basically, the people who gather on this platform are engineers in our industry. If you say some professional terms on other platforms, such as React, Npm, etc., people may not know what you are talking about, but you don’t have this concern when you think about it. , which may be the reason why engineers are willing to gather here.

3. Why did you choose to be a programmer? Because of the dream or because of the reality, which one is more important?

Choosing to be a programmer has a certain chance, but doing scientific research is almost a certainty. If you have good grades in your studies, but you don’t want to deal with people, you will definitely be doing scientific research in the future, but you still have choices at that time about what kind of scientific research you want to do. In our era, the income gap in various industries was not as large as it is now, and everything was similar. Because I was relatively poor in hands-on ability, I could type a keyboard, so I chose the industry of programmers. At that time, choosing this industry had little to do with income, but it was indeed because of the Internet dividend that I did not change careers later.

4. If one day you decide to give up programming due to various factors, what do you want to do?

The great teacher Engels said: labor creates man himself. My understanding is this: If you do the same type of labor all the time, no matter what your heart desires, you will eventually become who you are defined by the labor you do. I've been programming for thirty years, and my symbols are programmers, so suppose one day I suddenly never touch the keyboard again, what would I do? First of all, I think I will definitely be very disappointed and don’t know what to do; secondly, if there is pressure to survive, I think driving a taxi or delivering food is an option that can be considered. If there is no pressure to survive, what I want to do most is probably to eat together wait to die.

5. The image of a programmer is inseparable from plaid shirts, black-rimmed glasses, backpacks and other items in the minds of many people. What do you want to say about this stereotype?

I think this image is actually pretty good. Every industry has its own image, whether you like it or not, the doctor is a white coat, the police must wear a uniform, it is not bad for the programmer to have a standard standard, it is best to have a military rank on the clothes to directly indicate your level, so that you will not Makes you feel like an ordinary programmer. How about printing a batch of badges for everyone?

6. Is programming just a job for you? If not, what special meaning does it have for you?

It’s really not just a job task. Programming is my means of transforming the world. The transformation is big or small. Every line of program we write actually changes the world more or less. At least you are spending electricity, right? My favorite thing to do is to do things that are very tedious to others, such as organizing many files according to certain rules. For ordinary people, it may take a long time to do it manually, or it may be given up soon, but for programmers, finding the rules is a great fun. After finding the rules, write a tool to automatically complete this thing, just will have a greater sense of achievement.

Probably the best part of the day is when you're done with a piece of code, leaning back in your chair with a cup of coffee and watching the program scroll line by line.

7. Is there anything that worries you at work? Where does this anxiety come from? What do you usually do when faced with anxiety?

There was a lot of anxiety in the early days, and now there is basically nothing to worry about. I think there are generally two sources of anxiety: one is anxiety from others, and the other is anxiety from oneself. Anxiety from others refers to a situation that is not under your control. For example, you need to rely on a software package from others when you develop, but there is a problem with this package, so what can you do? Either don't use it completely, replace it with another one, or completely transform it. In short, even if it is someone else's problem, you have to find a way to solve it yourself. Complaining is useless. This is the basic quality of programmers. Another kind of anxiety that comes from yourself is more difficult to solve, that is, when you cannot master a technology, you clearly know that there is no problem with the technology itself, but you cannot control it or even understand it with your current ability. You can rely on time, from zero to one, accumulate little by little, maybe you can master it in the end, maybe you can't, but in any case, this is a growing process.

8. Age has a certain influence on the profession of programmers. Do you agree with this point of view? Have you thought about your future career plans?

Old is not the problem, old is the problem. I have seen many programmers who are very old, but they are always active in the programming line, using the latest technology. I've also seen some very old programmers using very old technologies that were abandoned by the times. So who can you blame? Solon said: Live to old age and learn to old age. If you are unwilling to study, you are actually abandoning the industry, not the industry abandoning you. But I still have some advice for young programmers, that is, they should pay more attention to some extra-technical skills, such as product design ability, project management ability, interpersonal skills, even if they are determined to be programmers for a lifetime, these skills are inexorable. Short.

9. Please leave your wishes for the 10th birthday of the SegmentFault community

Before I know it, Sibo is ten years old and has become one of the most important positions for Chinese software engineers. I hope Sibo can continue to grow and cultivate new generations, so that we can witness the growth of China's software industry.

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In the face of age anxiety that is a commonplace in this circle, Mr. Zhang pointed out the key points:

Old is not the problem, old is the problem.

I hope that all programmers can always be new in their career development, keep the "old" self, and use "new" technology. At the same time, we also hope that Mr. Zhang can have smooth sailing in his future career, and will always be an old boy labeled with programming.