The extent of my nerdiness was only realized this after reading the following excerpt from the book “Decisive” by Chip Heath (I find it a really good book, by the way):
In our quest to convince you of the merits of a process, we realize we’ve been facing an uphill battle: It would be hard to find a less inspiring word in the English language than “process.” It’s like trying to get people giddy about an algorithm.
…and vehemently disagreeing with it. Because I’m inspired by process (and systems; and the like), and get giddy playing with algorithms!
Programming and Cooking
I can hardly fathom a more exciting afternoon than one in which after hours of programming, scripting, and coding that seem to be going nowhere, with the swish of a “compile and run” magic is revealed: the completed program; website; or basic scripting routine, coming together and working like a charm.
For non-programmers who are looking and longing for a similar experience, I say look no further than your kitchen. In cooking, a similar joy can be found. Many times I’ve found myself in the kitchen preparing dishes that look nothing like what they started with.
One of my favourite “how can this be that?!” revelations can be found in one of my favourite Chinese dishes called hor fun.
Especially if it’s the first time you’re trying to cook it, almost all the way through to the last couple of steps where you pour in the cornstarch solution and the egg, you’d be questioning if it’s really going to be turn out like you think it should turn out to be (before that, the dish just resembles a really sad attempt at kway teow soup).
I find it a great analog to programming. Where you start off with various ingredients that don’t appear to mix together too well, and where you’re trudging through tough periods based on nothing but faith and the hope that it’s going to work out in the end.
It’s no wonder that many computer and programming books come with titles like “Recipes” and “Cookbook”.
Donn, fragments 
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