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You didn't really read it did you? Your last sentence pretty much proves it.

by zedshaw 17y ago

blasdel 17y ago
Bear with me on this, but perhaps he read it more closely than you wrote it! Do you not see how ripe your metaphor is for a superficial interpretation by the kind of impressionable readers that currently go around advertising for ninja coworkers? A master would have addressed that more directly in the essay: the 'frustrated expert' vignette is good, but should be expanded so that every affected ninja comes away with the realization that they are a moron. You can't leave any room for aspirational mastery. NONE.
- strait 17y ago
  I am ignorant, but not a moron, and aspirational mastery excites me. What is your solution?
alexgartrell 17y ago
I was referring to the "X as a martial art" metaphor in general. Not your piece in particular. I should have been more clear. This whole "Listen to how much Programming is like _____" thing is overdone. We're scientists, engineers, craftsmen, painters, artists, etc. and now we're also martial artists. I just don't understand why we can't be happy with being Computer Programmers. And I understand that a rational criticism of me saying this is "well obviously this guy isn't exploring the deeper meaning of what's said here," but why does there need to be a deeper meaning behind this all? It just seems so meta.
- jamesbritt 17y ago
  People learn by analogy. "I just don't understand why we can't be happy with being Computer Programmers." Because if you ask 5 people you'll get 8 different descriptions of what "Computer Programmer" means. Which is fine, because it leads to discussion, and that's where analogy and metaphor come in handy to explain a point of view.
- gridspy 17y ago
  The master programmer is to the novice programmer what the Martial arts master is to the student. The master moves with little effort and achieves his ends efficiently and easily. This is not to say that a programmer is a kung-fu expert, instead that mastery is about efficiency. Between master and student is a third step called "expert" where the student has the required skill but does not yet possess the efficiency mindset. I too have witnessed skilled programmers doing far more work than necessary for no reason.

You didn't really read it did you? Your last sentence pretty much proves it.

by zedshaw 17y ago

You didn't really read it did you? Your last sentence pretty much proves it.

Bear with me on this, but perhaps he read it more closely than you wrote it! Do you not see how ripe your metaphor is for a superficial interpretation by the kind of impressionable readers that currently go around advertising for ninja coworkers? A master would have addressed that more directly in the essay: the 'frustrated expert' vignette is good, but should be expanded so that every affected ninja comes away with the realization that they are a moron. You can't leave any room for aspirational mastery. NONE.

strait 17y ago
I am ignorant, but not a moron, and aspirational mastery excites me. What is your solution?

alexgartrell 17y ago

I was referring to the "X as a martial art" metaphor in general. Not your piece in particular. I should have been more clear. This whole "Listen to how much Programming is like _____" thing is overdone. We're scientists, engineers, craftsmen, painters, artists, etc. and now we're also martial artists. I just don't understand why we can't be happy with being Computer Programmers. And I understand that a rational criticism of me saying this is "well obviously this guy isn't exploring the deeper meaning of what's said here," but why does there need to be a deeper meaning behind this all? It just seems so meta.

jamesbritt 17y ago
People learn by analogy. "I just don't understand why we can't be happy with being Computer Programmers." Because if you ask 5 people you'll get 8 different descriptions of what "Computer Programmer" means. Which is fine, because it leads to discussion, and that's where analogy and metaphor come in handy to explain a point of view.
gridspy 17y ago
The master programmer is to the novice programmer what the Martial arts master is to the student. The master moves with little effort and achieves his ends efficiently and easily. This is not to say that a programmer is a kung-fu expert, instead that mastery is about efficiency. Between master and student is a third step called "expert" where the student has the required skill but does not yet possess the efficiency mindset. I too have witnessed skilled programmers doing far more work than necessary for no reason.