The gradual demotion of programmers has been offset by the power and pleasure of programming. As Edwards argues, “programming can produce strong sensations of power and control” because the computer produces an internally consistent if externally incomplete microworld,
> a simulated world, entirely within the machine itself, that does not depend on instrumental effectiveness. That is, where most tools produce effects on a wider world of which they are only a part, the computer contains its own worlds in miniature. . . . In the microworld, as in Children’s make-believe, the power of the programmer is absolute.43
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[…] der Computer eine in sich konsistente, wenn auch äußerlich unvollständige Mikrowelt erzeugt, […]; vgl. Systemtheorie – Memory as a Consistency Check
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This pleasure is itself an effect of programming languages, which offer the lure of visibility, readability, cause and effect. Consider this ubiquitous “hello world” program written in C++ (“hello world” is usually the first program a person will write):
// this program spits out “hello world” #include <iostream.h> int main () { cout << “Hello World!”; return 0; }