I describe myself exactly the same way. For me, I think it's two separate components:
- For an existing system (of any kind - mechanical, legal, social...), I automatically look for things that can be improved.
- When discussing a new idea, I'm always mentally jumping ahead to the implementation phase, where potential problems quickly jump out at me.
I've considered it to be just part of my personality rather than specific to programming, but since I first learned to program at age 7 it's difficult for me to distinguish the two.
- For an existing system (of any kind - mechanical, legal, social...), I automatically look for things that can be improved.
- When discussing a new idea, I'm always mentally jumping ahead to the implementation phase, where potential problems quickly jump out at me.
I've considered it to be just part of my personality rather than specific to programming, but since I first learned to program at age 7 it's difficult for me to distinguish the two.