'play computer'

[Drew Danielson]

I just heard a phrase come from the mouth of a CS prof, which I haven't
heard in a while (that I am aware of).  He said something like, "If you
can play computer, you can do [X]".

I heard this same thing from a guy a few years ago (it stuck in my mind
I do not know why), who was not an adept computer user.  I remember
attributing it to his diminuation of other people's ability to with
computers (as in, "he's coming over to play computer" meant, "he's
coming over to install a printer driver (or something) for me").

The CS prof used it in a similar context - implying that being able to
do something like massage user prefs is akin to "playing computer".

I am wondering if this is a phrase with legs.  I am wondering if it is,
whether it is always used to imply some sort of mid-level computer
knowledge - like hand-manipulating libraries, writing macros in
MSOffice, or utilizing little javascript doodads on webpages - the sort
of stuff that isn't apparent or accessible to a less curious computer
user, but isn't nearly as nitty-gritty as what the CS or IT guys do.

The obligatory search for the phrase on google generated too many
instances of 'computer' being used to modify nouns like 'game' or
'sound' to quickly get any useful results.


And now I play java programmer:

InformaticsIdiom playComputer = new InformaticsIdiom(Phrase, to play,
computer, "utilize mid-level computer knowledge"); //Throws
AdjectivalNounException