I am a Wizard

04/16/15

It has repeatedly occurred to me how good magic is as a metaphor for programming, but recently I have come to a much stronger conclusion: programming is literally magic. And I am literally a wizard. Programming is as close to real magic as we have come, and it matches the myth pretty closely.

Would you like to learn an arcande language such that, if words are executed correctly, it does your bidding? That's a wizard, and that's possible with programming.

"Ah, but wait," I hear someone object, "programming is only applicable in limited settings." And that's true.

For now.

And that's usually true of magic in its various mythological forms, anyways. Though it is quite fair that programming as literal magic isn't quite there yet.

But it's close.

Most everyone nowadays has a phone, and interacts with globally connected devices on a daily basis. The emergence of general-use robotics is also on the cusp, and they will very much be within applicable effect of the emerging magic.

I think really there's only a few things to make the metaphor literal:

• More everyday presence of robots
• Perfection of listening software
• Latin as a programming language

That last one is super important.