3 ms·
Yes, it's harsh, but it gets the point across in a very memorable way. He knows very well how people perceive it, but code quality and his reputation as a deve
by yAnonymous 11y ago
Yes, it's harsh, but it gets the point across in a very memorable way.
He knows very well how people perceive it, but code quality and his reputation as a developer are more important to him than the reputation he gets from his rants.
- mikeash 11y agoI don't find it very memorable, aside from it reinforcing the memory that Linus is often a jerk. All the insults and general ranting get in the way of the point, they don't reinforce it. Compare with some classical technical rants like, say, The UNIX-HATERS Handbook. It has a wonderful ranty tone to it, but it's also full of pretty solid technical information and reasoned technical opinions. The tone makes it memorable without getting in the way of the information. It's far from a reference book, but it's great material. It's an amazing reminder of how much the computer industry loves to forget the past and then eventually reinvent it. Linus's rant, on the other hand, is about... integer overflow, I guess? And code readability? And I don't think he actually explains anything about either one, so I don't know why he prefers one version to the other, but I know he prefers it really strongly. Churchill said, "Diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions." Similarly, a really good technical rant is one where you call the other person a complete and utter idiot in such a way that they thank you for your help.