What is Wrong With This World?

I was about to make coffee when Tom came into the kitchen.
"Hi Teo, how are you?" he said, leaning against the counter.

I had seen that body language before, and was pretty sure this wasn't small talk. "Is this a 'what is happening in your life?' kind of how are you, or the 'just answer fine' how are you?" I asked.
"You're getting to know me," he said, "This is the 'what's going on in your life' one. I don't ask questions just for the sake of asking."

"Well," I began, "In the last few weeks, I was dragged forward through time by a former acquaintance, I'm fighting in a war that I don't fully understand, and I don't know if I'll ever see my family again, and..." I paused for a breath before I got to the worst. I wanted my last point to come through loud and clear. "Do you know what pisses me off most of all?"

"What's that, Teo?"

"Milk, Tom! You have no Goddamn milk in the future! How am I supposed to drink coffee? Without milk? What is wrong with this world? I don't understand..."

"Sorry to hear all that, Teo," Tom interrupted. "Any chance we can rewind this conversation and change that 'how are you' to the 'just answer fine' one?"
"That's what I'm talking about!" I continued. "No one cares about my feelings here. Everything is predefined; I do not influence what's going to happen. The same as programs that I write..." Now that I had aired my grievances, my mind began to settle down and float back to coding.

Wait a second, I thought. Predefined... as a matter of fact, my programs are predefined, and that's what's wrong with them. When I get up in the morning, I don't know the air temperature outside. Then I check it, and if the temperature is low, I wear a heavy jacket; otherwise, a lighter coat. But in the program I wrote, the temperature is predefined and ALWAYS -10 degrees. It works the same way in winter, summer, or spring. Why would you write a program that tells you what to wear if it always says the same thing?

"Tom," I asked, hoping he wasn't too put off at this point, "I need a way to provide some outside information to my program. I want to check the real temperature and have my program decide what I should wear based on that. Can you help me?""
"You are asking difficult questions, Teo. If it will make you feel more comfortable here, then yes, I know one command that will help. But let's keep it a secret from Ritchie, ok?"
I wasn't sure why this had to be kept from the leader, but I desperately wanted to learn more about coding. "Sure!" I said.