gratitude

Receiving praise is a very important aspect of social interactions. At work in particular, praise (when warranted) is extremely important. When you write some code that for one reason or another is impressive, it feels good when someone says "ooh, that's quite nice that is". That praise alone can be enough to sustain a person even if other aspects of their environment are less appealing for whatever reason.

A while ago I wrote a threading api which is quite large and (if I say so myself) quite useful. A few people have said nice things about it and that made me feel good. Today however I got a rather unusual, but rather fulfilling comment about it. I was actually outright thanked for having written it. That felt great.