Six Fundamental Properties of Games

All games are in some way a combination of the four “mother” mechanics: agon, alea, mimicry, and ilinx. Games have strict rules that all players must follow. Game-winning conditions are clearly defined. There are many different ways a game can end—not just one. In other words, there’s a way to win and (usually) lots of ways to lose. Players try hard to win because winning is desirable. Games can be played repeatedly with different outcomes.

 L Peter Deutsch on Why Programing is so Hard

One of the things that I've been thinking about off and on over the last five-plus years is, "Why is programming so hard?" You have the algorithmic side of programming and that's i close enough to mathematics that you can use mathematics as the basic model, if you will, for what goes on in it. You can use mathematical methods and mathematical ways of thinking.That doesn't make it easy, but nobody thinks mathematics is easy. So there's a pretty good match between the material you're working ...