If you've played MTG (Magic the Gathering) then you've might have heard of them.

If you haven't, then let me introduce you to them... and don't worry, they are just personalities and you're probably one of them.

Timmy

The power gamer, they want to play big, flashy spells and creatures and end the game with a bang.

Johnny

The combo players, they make crazy decks that might not even work most of the time, but when it works...

Spike

The tournament player, they play to win no matter what it takes.

This is, of course, a grossly oversimplification. But for the sake of a primer, it will work.

What does that have to do with programming?

Is what you might be asking... and I will say: Everything!

As programmers, we too have ways to approach things in one of those ways.

The Timmy Programmer

For the Timmy Programmer, to develop something is to have fun.

Performance might not matter much, what matter is: "what if we could have RTX On Dino Game?"

Or... how many ways you can print console.log multiple times in JavaScript?

Most people when learning how to program will be here... they star learning and every time the code compiles is a great victory that comes with a sense of: but... what if I do _____?

The Johnny Programmer

The Johnny Programmer are those you have to keep in check and with a few reminders of YAGNI and KISS.

Similar, but different to Timmy, Johnny wants to have millions of small moving parts using every and all data structures and algorithms to make the most polished and perfect code that cover all edge cases.

If you've seen a new grad or someone who just got out of a bootcamp and wants to over complicate a simple TODO app... then you've seen Johnny.

The Spike Programmer

The Spike Programmer is the profissional programmer. They just want to get the job done.

So... what kind of programmer are you?

And it's worth highlighting that's there's no "right" answer, sometimes you need to get the job done and sometimes you need to think in crazy ways to cover every possibility.

And sometimes, we just want to have fun trying something... just because!

Cover Photo by Ryan Quintal on Unsplash