Philosophical Question on why are we turning to Programmability ?

[lowfell]

Hello all. Although I've been a Cisco engineer for over twenty years now, i'm absolutely brand new to Programmability, Devnet, Python, etc, etc. I'm currently learning at a fundamental level and I am enjoying the experience. however what i am finding as i'm going through this is that a lot of what I'm learning, once upon a time was already there, if you know what I mean? 

Let's say ten years ago I bought a car, it had electric windows, air conditioning, leather seats and a cd player.

Now today if i try and buy the same car, it's just a car with four wheels, no electric windows, no leather seats etc, but if i want these things i used to get for free, you are telling me to install them myself?

This seems a bit like Programmability if you know what I mean? you asking us to write features that used to already be there in a previous model in a lot of cases?

As I'm just starting on this Devnet journey maybe I'm being too simplistic, but also as yet, i can't really see any real automation through this as well, unless someone can give me some real world examples, although I'm sure somewhere down the line I'll find out for myself?

[Alex Stevenson · Accepted solution]

Happy New Year!

Thank you for your valuable insight. You know, reading this reminds me of the quote from Jurassic Park where the character Dr. Ian Malcom says, "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should." In a similar way, what you've written here has opened my eyes to a new perspective and I appreciate that. Why reinvent the wheel?

As I'm sure you know, one of, if not the, best ways to learn something, especially in our field, is by doing it. I highly recommend you have a look at the DevNet Automation Exchange - https://developer.cisco.com/network-automation/ - I've just recently finished duplicating a use case from their collection and it was extremely educational as well as enjoyable.

But lets not put the cart before the horse. The absolute best place to start learning Python coding, APIs, IoT and Edge computing and network automation is here --> https://developer.cisco.com/startnow/ 

Then, I highly recommend our Learn network programmability basics video course. Jumpstart your journey into network programmability with this expert-led video course. We have 6 modules, each with lessons including API and code samples you can use on your computer to follow along with the videos. https://developer.cisco.com/video/net-prog-basics/ 

By the way, everything I've laid out here is free. I wish you the best of luck and very much appreciate you in our community. See you around.

Best regards,

                    Alex Stevenson

                Cisco DevNet Engineer

[lowfell]

Happy new year to you Alex. I'm actually three quarters through the  https://developer.cisco.com/video/net-prog-basics/ course. It is an excellent base to start & Hank Preston is a great teacher! I've learned in a very lot in a short space of time.  Once I've completed this course I'm going to go along and take a look at the DevNet Automation Exchange you mentioned, for inspiration. Here's to  back to the future Alex.

Now this old dog needs to get back to learning more new tricks.

 Best regards,

Brian 

[Tagir Temirgaliyev]

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