This meaning of discretion is perhaps the most difficult to live up to. At its simplest it means always think before you act. It places intelligence and experience as the prime virtues, rather than courage and talent, as so many people do nowadays. As such, it is an appropriate link to computer programming.
The hardest part of programming is detecting bugs. These usually come about because of carelessness, but in most cases they are caught by the compiler. Those bugs that cause the most trouble are the ones caused by the lack of good judgement - intelligence and experience applied before the program is compiled.
I enjoy programming, and think I am good at it, because at times I can feel the flow of data. The structure of logic code creates a pattern in my mind which either feels right or feels wrong. I would not say this was a talent I was born with, but rather something which has developed as a result of my upbringing, and of my training in computers and programming.
Page last modified: 27th October 1997
