So, after a law professor retires s/he immediately stops thinking about law?

> So, after a law professor retires s/he immediately stops thinking about law?

The proper analogy would be: "So, after a lawyer retires s/he immediately stops practicing law?"

Yes, s/he does.

So, when you retire will you immediately stop practicing programming?

I would hope when I retire I will have the money to immediately forget anything about programming and instead remember how to say "Where is Gate A?" in 20 different languages.

Many people certainly will – because they're already not doing it in their free time. In fact, in most professions you won't find many people who enjoy the same things in their free time as they do in their job.

As for me, I still have >35 years ahead of me, so we'll see.

Equivocation; "practicing" law and "practicing" programming are not the same thing.

It can be compared. Both require to mentally navigate certain set of constraints and rules and build up a mental model of the domain problem, after which you produce a concrete result. In programming it's software, in law practice it's mostly a written consultation or a decision.

The point I'm making, is that both are mental endeavours. Programming isn't constantly typing at a desk, hitting TAB, and letting the IDE do the rest, but actually solving the problem in your head.

If I quit a programming job, that doesn't mean I stop thinking on programming problems. Same goes for law.

The problem that the author is describing, is that she has reached the limits of her profession to such an extent, that even thinking on (most) programming problems isn't interesting to her anymore. Which is a sad thing.

"Practicing law" specifically means performing legal services, in the real law system, for a real client. It is a term of art, not a generic English use of the term. Practicing programming has a much fuzzier meaning, because it is the generic English term.

My point is your snark doesn't hold, because "practicing law" is fundamentally a different thing from "practicing" programming.

Just because my initial comment was a short sentence, doesn't mean it was snarky; like this one.

And although I agree with your definition within a professional legal context, that context is irrelevant to the discussion, since we are discussing a person's personal relationship to the discipline.

I'm not sure what point you think you're making. When someone takes an action, do they immediately stop thinking about the topic of that action?

Did you read the article?

Did you? He's not talking about quitting his job, but his (former) passion. That's not retiring.

Did you really?

She isn't quitting her passion, she's quitting doing it for someone else, i.e. her job.

>"It’s not to say that I have no interest in software. Of course I do...What I mean is that I can’t do it for someone else the way I used to...I have some ideas of what I want to do software-wise, but I’m not ready to announce them yet."

So she isn't retiring, is that what you are saying?

She hasn't been self-employed in 38 years. Unless she is in some very unusual life situation, you don't try your hand at self-employment, after 38 years, unless you can afford to fuck up in grandiose style and still be financially secure.

So yes, she is retiring.

You retire when you hang up your hat and start getting pension. You can keep you opinion, but I prefer the one without brave assumptions about a person I don't know.

Heh, your age is showing.

Deirdre is a woman

Oh, my mistake. Thanks for pointing that out. Not really familiar with less frequent English names.

It's actually Irish (so is her middle name Saoirse). It's pronounced Deer-dra in case you're wondering

I thought "deed-ree" initially. Thank you.