Despite the fact that programmers create experiences, the creative aspect of programming gets removed from the conversation. In this talk, I discussed my road to becoming a programmer and how thinking of code as a paintbrush has helped to shape my relationship with programming.

1. @cattsmall@cattsmall
The Creative
Programmer
!!Con 2016 – Catt Small

2. @cattsmall@cattsmall
● Product Designer, SoundCloud
● Co-founder, Brooklyn Gamery
● Co-founder, Code Liberation
● Maker of various things!
A little about me:

3. @cattsmall@cattsmall
Programming culture, creativity, and
my path to code.
Today we’ll discuss:

4. @cattsmall@cattsmall
Culture

5. @cattsmall@cattsmall
Programming culture
how > what + why

6. @cattsmall@cattsmall
Conversations with devs
I think we should use–
What should it do?
them
me

7. @cattsmall@cattsmall
Education
The mysqlnd replication and load balancing plugin is implemented as a PHP extension.
It is written in C and operates under the hood of PHP.
During the startup of the PHP interpreter, in the module init phase of the PHP engine, it gets
registered as a mysqlnd plugin to replace selected mysqlnd C methods.
At PHP runtime, it inspects queries sent from mysqlnd (PHP) to the MySQL server
If a query is recognized as read-only, it will be sent to one of the configured slave servers.
Statements are considered read-only if they either start with SELECT, the SQL hint /*ms=slave*/
or a slave had been chosen for running the previous query, and the query started with the SQL
hint /*ms=last_used*/. In all other cases, the query will be sent to the MySQL replication master
server.

8. @cattsmall@cattsmall
Hierarchy
PHPJava SQL C++ASP.NET
JS C#Ruby Objective C
Python

9. @cattsmall@cattsmall
More hierarchy
JS
Angular EmberBackbone
Node ReactIO

10. @cattsmall@cattsmall
“Real programmer”
I haven’t
slept in
weeks!
export class Just<A> extends Maybe<A> {
constructor(public value: A) { super(); };
export class Nothing<A> extends Maybe<A> {
constructor() { super(); };
fold<R>(match) { return match.nothing; }
export function of<A>(value: A): Maybe<A> {
return new Just(value);
export function zero<A>(): Nothing<A> {
return new Nothing();
export function map<A, B>(fn: (a: A) => B): (m: Maybe<A>) => Maybe<B> {
return function morphism(ma) {
return ma.fold({
just: (a) => { return new Just(fn(a)) },
export function bind<A, B>(fn: (a: A) => Maybe<B>): (m: Maybe<A>) => Maybe<B>
return function morphism(ma) {
return ma.fold({
export function zipWith<A, B, R>(fn: (A, B) => R): ((ma: Maybe<A>, mb:
</> </>

11. @cattsmall@cattsmall
Programming culture
is hurting people.

12. @cattsmall@cattsmall
Programming culture
needs to change.

13. @cattsmall@cattsmall
I love coding...

14. @cattsmall@cattsmall
I love coding...
because I love creating.

15. @cattsmall@cattsmall
Anime fandoms

16. @cattsmall@cattsmall
The Big KISS

17. @cattsmall@cattsmall
Learning to code

18. @cattsmall@cattsmall
My own KISS dolls!

19. @cattsmall@cattsmall
KISS doll portfolio + blog

20. @cattsmall@cattsmall
Xanga + LiveJournal
design

21. @cattsmall@cattsmall
Website designs

22. @cattsmall@cattsmall
Cross-platform products &
games

23. @cattsmall@cattsmall
Programming can be
artistic.

24. @cattsmall@cattsmall
Programming can be
creative.

25. @cattsmall@cattsmall
Programming is
a means to an end.

26. @cattsmall@cattsmall
Code has so much
creative potential.

27. @cattsmall@cattsmall
Websites

28. @cattsmall@cattsmall
Apps

29. @cattsmall@cattsmall
Games

30. @cattsmall@cattsmall
Clothing
Art:
Ariel Cotton www.
argoncobalt.com
Photo:
Brady Dale for
Technically Brooklyn

31. @cattsmall@cattsmall
Food
Art:
Ariel Cotton www.
argoncobalt.com
Photo:
Brady Dale for
Technically Brooklyn

32. @cattsmall@cattsmall
Books
Art:
Jie Qi
www.technolojie.com

33. @cattsmall@cattsmall
AI

34. @cattsmall@cattsmall
Robots
Credit:
Boston Dynamics
www.bostondynamics.com
Credit:
Pepper by SoftBank
http://www.tokyotimes.com/stores-softbank-will-run-robots/

35. @cattsmall@cattsmall
Programming tools

36. @cattsmall@cattsmall
Celebrate what you make.

37. @cattsmall@cattsmall
You already are a
real programmer.

38. @cattsmall@cattsmall
In summary:
● Focus on the project, not the tools.
● Pick whatever language & framework will
make your project happen.
● You can use code to create more than apps.
● Celebrate what you’ve made! Don’t get stuck
on what you couldn’t make.
● You already are a real programmer.

39. @cattsmall@cattsmall
Go out there &
make cool stuff!

40. @cattsmall@cattsmall
Thank you.
Questions?
Tweet @cattsmall
Email catt@cattsmall.com