How Dan Abramov Got Into Programming

I really loved

我真的非常喜欢

working with Powerpoint

使用Powerpoint

so that was my favorite software

所以那是我最喜欢的软件

I don't know if people use it anymore

我不知道现在人们是否还在使用它

yeah I think I think people know what it is but

但我认为人们知道它是干啥用的

essentially I I love to make slides and also

说实话，我其实挺喜欢制作PPT的

I learn to make animation

并且学会了去制作动画

so you could

所以，你可以

like make a slide and make things fade in and move

去做一个幻灯片，并且让其中呈现淡入淡出的动效去移动

at some point I was just exploring

大概在某个时间点，我开始去探索

what are the different things you could do

Powerpoint中

inside Powerpoint

不同的骚操作

and I think I was about 12

我觉得我那时应该只有12岁

and I I just went through all the menus

我...我浏览了PPT中所有

uh that were available um

可用的菜单

in Powerpoint and then I found the many

然后，我发现了可以对许多

um item that lets me

项目进行

uh record makers

录制的功能

so this is like a way to automate

这样就可以让每个幻灯片

like when you have to do something on each slide

自动化的去做相同的事情

you can like record it and then do it

你可以把你重复性的动作记录下来，然后再执行

and it generates code

而且它还会生成代码

so you can actually look at the code and you can see

这样其实你就能查看你想看的代码

and like I didn't know what

我当时并不知道

programming is like what code is

啥是编程

and

而且

I also didn't know English very well

那时英语也比较菜

so I didn't understand some of the words

所以我有时候看不懂一些词儿，不知道它在说啥

ah but I kinda just like

但我想要

tried tweaking it a little bit and try to

试着去稍微改动一下，并且尽力去

um to see what the what the result is

看最终会呈现的结果是否有变化

and it seem to make sense like I I think like I

这似乎看起来挺有用的，也让我

I kind of understood it

有点儿理解它的原理了

and

然后

then I started looking for information on the internet

我开始上网寻找信息、找教程

it was before YouTube or anything like this but

那时候还没有YouTube这样的学习平台

I just found

我仅仅通过

some resources I bought some books in paper

去购买一些纸质书还有翻译报刊杂志来

in translation

获取知识

and yeah

好吧

that's kind of how I gradually

那就是我渐渐

started learning programming

开始学习编程的方式

I didn't really know anything it was very slow to learn

我一开始什么都不知道，学起来很慢

um

嗯...

but I started hanging out as some uh program in forums

但当我开始去逛编程论坛之后

and I saw people helping other people

我看到好多人都在上面求助和解答

and I wanted to be helpful

我也想去帮助别人

and I also thought it's it's like a cool game

而且我觉得这样跟玩游戏一样挺酷炫的

like you know like

就好比说

can I figure out the answer to this question

我能找到这个问题的答案吗？

I kind of started to

我开始有点儿

to get involved with

沉溺于

with this forums

这些论坛之中了

and I started moderating one of those forums

并且参与运营管理其中一个论坛

and I got involved into open source a little bit

与此同时，我也在开源方面有所参与

I think I was about 15 at the time

我当时大约15岁

and

然后

I participated in a program that Google was sponsoring

我参加了Google赞助的一个项目

they had like a mentorship program for

他们面向学生

different open source projects for

为不同的开源项目

like students

提供导师计划

for high

也包括

school students that contribute to open source

提供给高中生

and so participate in that program

参与开源项目贡献的机会

and I think that that kind of helped

我觉得这应该对业界能有所帮助

yeah I didn't study programming

是的，我没学过编程

I tried going to university

我试着去进入高校深造一下

but it didn't work out very well

但成绩不太理想（不太容易进入心仪的大学）

and I

然后

I found the job

我就在要去上大学第一个暑假

in the first summer break and

找到了一份工作

then I stopped going to the university

因而，我就放弃了去上大学

I like it was an interesting experience the

那是一次挺有趣的经历

well like my first office first colleagues

我认识了我的第一同事，有了第一间办公室

it was an outsource in company

那是家外包公司

so we were just doing whatever the client wanted

所以我们只是按照客户的要求做事情

like our clients were most financial firms and

并且我们当时的客户大部分是金融公司（金主爸爸）

usually

通常来说

we would fix

我们都是去

like the software that somebody else has created

接一些前人丢给我们的“屎山”项目

before us so we were given like projects that were

所以我们接受的都是些

completely incredible

完全超乎想象的

very hard to understand

晦涩难懂的祖传代码

and then we needed to like

然后我们需要去

bring right the

填这些坑

like pieces of them or at least understand like

最起码理解那些“屎山代码”

what this code is doing

写的是啥吧

and like how do you

而且还得在

change the feature without completely breaking it

不完全破坏它的情况下保证功能

and I think that was

我觉得

that was a very interesting experience because

那真的是件“有趣”的事情（微笑）

I think it helped me understand how

因为，我觉得它帮助我

code can change over time

了解到代码随时间

level of mistakes people can make

变化而产生技术债务导致的错误堆积水位

at some point I had to actually print out

有一次，我不得不打印出

like there was a really really long file with uh

一份非常非常长的文件

like 30,000 lines

它大约有30,000行

that I I didn't understand what it was doing

我不知道它实现的业务逻辑

so I had to print it out on paper

所以我不得不将它打印在纸上

and I actually like put it on my desk

事实上，我还把它放在桌子上

uh like it took the whole desk

然后，整个桌子居然都被铺满了（你敢信？）

and I was just like

接着

marking pieces in it with them with

我用铅笔

with uh with a pencil

在上面标记部分

um but I think they they gave me some um

但我认为那给了我一些

like good

切身

understanding of what it actually feels like to

体会，那就是在软件开发中的真实

to work in software

工作场景

and so I think that was very valuable

所以我认为那是非常有价值的

even though I wouldn't want to

但我真的不想

like work on legacy software like this

在有历史债的软件项目中

as much anymore

再来一遍了