Programming Paradise

A dog’s soft woof, a parrot’s chirp as it dances to a jukebox, a hiss of a creeper followed by a frightened gasp—familiar sounds flood through a pair of headphones as the Minecraft world comes to life.

Inspired by the computational magic produced by typed commands, freshman Sammy Hajhamid uses programming to build virtual worlds for his friends. His most recent project includes a Minecraft server, pepsipu. com, and a spicy plugin, Pepper, to address a common issue for everyone during quarantine: boredom. The plugin utilizes TNT to add taste to Minecraft player versus player combat, featuring vibrant and dynamic explosions that ignite both the carrot farms in the game and the competitive spirits in his friends. With the server, Hajhamid creates a sandbox of imagination that breaks the boundaries of his usual utility projects and revitalizes the lively connections with his community. Driven by perseverance and a deep personal interest, Hajhamid sets out to solve problems for his community through programming.

Ever since quarantine began, the familiar complaints about long biology assignments and the cheers about successful English tests have slowly faded into the soft drone of a lonely laptop fan. Hajhamid felt as if the thrilling experiences and compassionate connections with friends were lost. Seeking a solution, he turned to a much-loved cube game, Minecraft, and uses programming to give it more flavor. With spruce villages, elytra flights, and nether portals, Hajhamid restores those spirited moments with a touch of fun.

“I want my server to sort of make people feel like they’re back at lunch,” Hajhamid said. “If I get to do that, then my server has succeeded at its job.”

Not only does programming teach Hajhamid how to transform simple text into applications, it also gives him fortitude. Like a stream of water cutting through rock, his tenacity and fascination with programming catalyzes his success in the long and strenuous process. Some days, the time is 4 a.m., and the subdued tapping on the keyboard is the only sound to be heard. A warm cup of tea on his desk has been long cold, but despite hours of work, the program still results in errors. Suddenly, a query from hours of endless Google searches turns up with the answer. Throwing a mental party, Hajhamid furiously writes a solution and falls into bed, relief washing over his fried brain.

“That perseverance is what makes people better programmers, because it forces you to get the job done,” Hajhamid said.

As he continues to explore the immense field of programming, Hajhamid looks back and passes on his enthusiasm and experience to the rookies. When he was starting out, a small group of programmers had guided him through arduous trials and helped him perfect his skills. Hajhamid knew, if he was ever genuinely stuck and no omnipotent search engine could find the answers, there was a cluster of friends that could help him out. Now, with years of assiduous work and constant honing of his abilities, Hajhamid begins to do the same, often lecturing and guiding beginners with materials that he once struggled with.

“I guess it’s sort of like a loop—starting off, you consult others, and as you get better, you start to consult people who are also new,” Hajhamid said. “And so, it’s always about getting help, but you also have to give help too.”