Yes, you're absolutely right. It was the first post so I was in a mindset of speaking directly to /u/23482kkweiesdm, completely forgetting that this is a forum.

Cards on the table, I'm not in the field of computer science, and I use the words computer science when in this case I'm specifically referring to programming in python and java.

I'm starting a formal compsci course this year, but I'm a considerable layman.

I started using codecademy at the end of last year with no knowledge of programming and completed all the tutorials and lessons, and now I just start coding something when I find some interesting data to play with. Or have an idea to beat the odds at gambling (As in, test out patterns of play to see if it would gain me an advantage. I don't actually gamble. This is a lot more fun.)

Something I'm 'working' on - not getting terribly far, it's become a lot more complicated than I thought, is to use UK election and polling data and attempt to extrapolate a range of likely results under an alternative voting system (the one where you put a 1, 2, 3 and 4 next to the candidates in order of preference). And when that gets too much, which it does, often, I go and work some on my rubbish text adventure. Again, I'm quite new at this. It's likely I won't be finishing my polling program anytime soon. That's why I'm taking the course!

I was depressed for a long, long time. I used to love to write, but as the depression got worse, that tapered off. But this text adventure... I'm having so much fun. When I get writer's block, I can switch gears and work on the if/then routines and think about how the player can interact with the story in interesting ways. Soon enough, I'll have something to write about again.