Cartography is fascinating. So, for that matter, is the writing of software. But most people have to consider how much time they can spare for such an undertaking. It is not for nothing that programmers speak of software development in terms of man-years, and it is not uncommon for programmers to put in 12- to 14- hour days trying to finish a project. Do you have that kind of time to spare?

Obviously, not all program development time is measured in man- years. One could no doubt write a program for generating anagrams in a couple of days, though it would take the average neophyte the same couple of days merely to type in the 75 to 100 lines of code required. Not only can a single misplaced colon or parenthesis mark foul up the works, but it often takes an enormous amount of time to discover such a seemingly minor error.

But let me hasten to add that there are at least three good reasons for learning how to program. First, it allows you to develop software that is not available commercially, and in some cases it lets you customize purchased software to serve your specific needs better. Second, programming can be fun. If you enjoy working on puzzles, programming may well turn out to be more pleasurable than solving The Times crossword puzzle or Dr. Crypton's mind-bending puzzle page in Science Digest. Third, there is the intellectual exercise, the honing of logic skills and learning to learn, stressed by pedagogues as a perfect reason to have computers available in schools for pupils from kindergarten age on up.

Valid as all these points may be, their limitations are often overlooked by proponents who get carried away by their enthusiasm. If you were to start learning a programming language such as the increasingly popular C in your spare time, chances are you would be fairly proficient in it within a year. That is a lot of time.

Hiring a programmer to modify existing commercial software to suit your business needs would probably prove to be more effective in terms of cost. Besides, once you have mastered C, you may find another program you want to modify written in Basic. Now there is nothing wrong with learning a second computer language . . . .