Prompts for “How to Fix a Motorcycle”
Due on Wednesday, April 13 by 10pm
Read “How to Fix a Motorcycle” by Robert Pirsig in the course packet and answer the following questions.
- Think back about your experiences doing programming in the past. Think of a time when it was difficult and you were feeling demoralized. This may have been a programming assignment, programming for work, or programming for fun. Now that you’ve read Pirsig’s essay, do any of his “gumption traps” apply to your experience? Describe your experience.
- Whether Pirsig’s advice applies to your situation or not, what would you do differently now if you were in that situation again?
- To what extent do you think your situation could have been improved by a better programming language? In other words, suppose your programming language helped you more. What pitfalls or gumption traps might be avoided? Don’t worry too much about whether your imagined features are practical to implement.
Length
Your response should be short: at least 200 words and no more than 400 words total.
Submission Instructions
Commit your response to your short responses repository. You must commit both your .tex source file and your generated .pdf. You are required to use LaTeX to typeset your response.
QUESTION RESPONSE FILE MUST BE NAMED reading06.pdf.