202406W4 Programming Without Looking at the Screen?

Stress-Free Socializing

Over the weekend, PPD invited me to attend an offline event for Li Yi’s new book. I had never participated in such an event before. The book is titled “Stress-Free Socializing.” Given my mild social anxiety, I decided to check it out. The atmosphere of the entire meeting was quite pleasant, and it was a full house. PPD reserved a seat for me in the front row. Most people had arrived early, and I got there just as it was starting. Walking to the front row in front of everyone felt a bit conspicuous, so I found a low-profile spot to stand and listen. The key takeaway was to go out and communicate with others more. Even if you say something wrong, people don’t really pay that much attention.

Programming Without Looking at the Screen?

At the meeting, I made a new friend named Rizhi. Unlike other programmers, he has a visual impairment and cannot “see” to code; he can only “hear.” Although typing is the same, programming demands more visual input than writing articles. For example, writing an article typically involves editing in a single file, whereas even a small programming project usually involves multiple files. Navigating directories with files of the same name is a challenge. “Actually, being familiar with my own code is fine. The hardest part is dealing with other people’s projects or reading open-source projects. Listening to code can be quite taxing. Additionally, debugging is not friendly for me; I can only use print statements to replace other people’s debugging methods,” Rizhi said during dinner. I suggested, “Isn’t it possible to add special characters at each print statement, making it easier to delete these debug logs later using global replace?” He nodded, “Exactly, combining existing IDE features with regex can quickly remove them.”

Later, he shared his story. He wasn’t born blind but lost his sight completely during university, just as he was beginning to learn programming. From then on, he was self-taught. The difficulty of programming without looking at the screen is unimaginable.

Both PPD and I greatly admire him. We believe that losing one’s sight later in life requires much higher mental resilience compared to being born blind. It’s like comparing someone born into poverty with someone who was well-off but fell into hard times. The former is accustomed to it from birth, while the latter experiences a sudden blow.

Meeting Rizhi was the highlight of this trip. Life is unpredictable. The ability to calmly accept and continue to love life after a significant change inadvertently influences those around.