I am referring to explaining to the non-programmer what programming is. I made sure to search for similar questions before creating this one, but the few ones I did find seemed to dodge the question, and I specifically would like to see some metaphors or analogies. I personally find it easier to explain something technical to someone through the use of metaphors or analogies.
The reason I'm interested in this is because many people encounter the work of a programmer on a daily basis, but if you ask the average person what a programmer is or does, they don't really know. This leads to certain situations of misunderstanding (ex. "[...] but I thought you were good with computers!")
I really would like to find the best one out there. I would like to be able to easily explain to someone what my career choice is about. Of course, at least the general idea.
I personally don't have a solid one, but I have long thought about it and I have usually gravitated towards the 'language' metaphor, where we happen to know a language that computers understand, and therefore we are able to tell computers what to do, or "teach" them, to solve our problems.
For example:
Imagine that in an alternate reality, humanoid robots with artificial intelligence exist, and some people are able to communicate with them through a common language, which is a variation of English. These people who can communicate with the robots are able to teach them how to solve certain problems or do certain tasks, like doing our chores.
Well, although robots like that don't exist yet, programmers of our time are like those people, but instead of communicating with the robots, they communicate with computers. Programmers "teach" the computers how to perform certain tasks or solve certain problems by means of software which they create by using this "common language".
Programmers and this "common language" are what give us things like email, websites, video games, word processors, smart phones (to put it simply), and many other things which we use on a daily basis.
I don't mean to put programming on the throne or anything, it's just the best metaphor I could come up with.
I'm sure someone will find some issue with this one, it's probably a bit contrived, but then again that's why I'm asking this question.
