Sculpting the Problem Space

"Begin Again" that song I mentioned.

You know. There are clues everywhere. You could spend time staring at a mountain and learn something universal. Not that I am recommending finding your local mountain and stare at for hours until the sun sets. No. What I am really saying there could be a time when you are walking, hiking or driving, then you glance at your local mountain and realize something. This mountain, in this moment, has something that is spiritual in nature, and it is a testament to something eternal.

A epiphany for your life occurs. One tear falling down your face for the saving grace. The darkness is held back for a few more seconds. For right now, I remember that this life is good. Hopefully I can find more light in another moment.

Life shares simple concepts. They are composed together. Combined and refined. They branch out into different materials. Truly reality is ever consistently common. The beautiful waterfalls echo with the rocks. The birds chirp while the wind picks up all the green and things rustle. The greatest joys we find are in the simple moments and know they are right there. Dependable. I may smile now if my mind just brushes the eternal beauty of today. Life depends on light.

Light is a constant.

Writing here on this blog has begun to shape me. Language does that. Symbols represent. When we combine language with grammar and symbols, add attitude, style and culture, maybe some new accent, then a song occurs. Our songs shape us. And what we read, write or listen to changes the very flavor of the text. Our auras are testaments to the language that we speak and savor. Both within our private minds and out in public with the persona we hide behind.

When I finished updating my post last night, I got tired. Ironically, I went to my office and resumed finishing the Ruby on Rails conference I mentioned before. When I wrote that post, I watched about half of the chat, so now I can say I watched the whole discussion.

Again. I am very delighted by what they said. There are some things that spoke personally to me and I have pondered them. Or rather internalized their philosophy. Usually when I read and learn, I discard a lot and keep what only connects with me. This conference however. There was nothing they said that I disagreed with. Their words resonated.

Language is indeed powerful. As a person who has a bottle neck in working memory, writing is that cheat code. When I write, I find my whole soul expand and everything opens up. All the negativity, frailty of my emotions and scattered mind, harmonizes and then uplifts. Just because your genetics influence a part of your life does not mean learning is useless. I am told that I could never plan or execute complicated designs, but here that is not the case. Writing is my alternative route.

Life is simple. And it is simple because it was made for everyone. One door closes and another opens. Personally my faith has got me through some impossible situations where I was led down a dark pit, but I made it out. And I don't abandon that faith simply because life is better.

Light is always there. I am going to form a relationship with the Being who created me. My Heavenly Father, and of course, my Savior as well. They are my hope and my joy. They are Who I want to Be and Emulate. Even when forgiving those who hurt me is the hardest thing about this emulation. I will continue to strive for love and the promise of a better world. That, right there, is where I want to be, for that is Heaven.

So when I finished the Ruby on Rails conference all of three of their words echoed in my head. A lot of thoughts focused on programming being designed for the person. Language is a choice of preference and it influences thought. And thought is held like water, in a container that is language. Another idea occurred to me.

Problem Space is perhaps the other side of the mirror. How I think about the problem, and how I want to solve that problem, is in effect a influence of the given language. The words I internalize to describe what is occurring or what I want. My blog helps me because the language and style of blogging influences how I begin to see the problem. Which in turn influences what language I use to solve the problem. Our personality and needs matches to a specific domain. Hardcore Ruby developers have a certain preference. Swift or Python or Rust appeal to different zones of thought. I can be proactive about this.

In my Markdown project, there are countless ways I can reshape the problem space. And they are attach to the language of choice. For most people, language is macro, but for me every single thing has a language. They speak because of how my brain is wired. And choosing my tool to shape the problem space will change how I tend to solve the problem.

I am going to throw in a hypothetical example.

Markdown, currently for me, is viewed through its raw form. When I think about the format, I see the hash tags for headers, the ``` for code snippets. Or '-' for lists. This is fine. However something is not matching up for me. There is friction while using the Rust language. Not because its about Rust, but I believe the style of Rust language is not matching up with how I want to construct my Markdown project.

Let's try JSON.

What if I wrote a mock or dummy JSON file which holds all the data. The JSON format is used to represent the structure of a markdown document. Then I write code that parses a JSON file. I know this will change how I see the problem, and the way I want to approach the format. 

If JSON matches more with how I want to solve the problem. Then great. I will write all the code that uses JSON to work with the Markdown format. Then when everything is finally designed, all that will be left is writing the code that translates Markdown to JSON and then JSON back to Markdown.

Such is the freedom of coding. We may shape our problem space with utmost authority and domain. Incredible!

JSON is not the only avenue. This is a clear initial test to experience what happens when I change the problem space. 

How does JSON change how my thoughts flow?

Writing is my tool. I can plan, execute, create and dream. I solve my own problems and learn about myself. Changing the problem space enables my rigid mind to adapt, and there I can begin sculpting change.

Then we swing back to the other half. Choosing a language that matches in the way you think. Together, here we go again, is the Yin Yang cycle. Flowing into one another forming a symbol through variance and variety. And also the core symbol itself. Placing that symbol with rules that form a grammar based language.

Maybe one day I will be like those three at the Ruby on Rails conference. Where I am sure and down right evangelist that this language is best for me. I may settle on Rust, or maybe Ruby or some new language. On the other hand, I really think I am going to use the language that best suits my thinking at the time of development. Like having an hammer, power drill, shovel and a massive crane. 

As my journey continues, I am growing more in skill and learning more about life. Writing in all it branches and sub classes is my central node in the hyper network of my skills. 

Sculpting is about using intuition with the tools in your hands. I may struggle to get this problem to flow in my mind, so using different languages both natural and created, I can create a problem space that is both a honest representation and is transformed to fit my sphere. Like grabbing a whole bunch of rocks and placing them in a bucket. There is less travel time even through the weight is heavier than if you just carried rocks one by one. 

Representation is critical for me. They compress and make the problem space more efficient. And different viewpoints gives me better access to richer information. Like traveling across the sea and the ship slowly pokes up and around the bend of the horizon. Until the distortion snaps into focus and you grab the ship and bring it back to the docks. Time to upgrade the ship and sail to different places. Gather those other resources. Build your foundations. Generate your endeavors and find joy today.