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Having worked close to a few highly skilled C/C++ developers (the author of HAProxy, core Firefox developers, people who write highly sensitive crypto code, ...
by jvehent 10y ago
Having worked close to a few highly skilled C/C++ developers (the author of HAProxy, core Firefox developers, people who write highly sensitive crypto code, ...), it is amusing to see them constantly doubt their knowledge of the language they master so well.
A decade and a half ago, one of my professor once told me: "You don't learn to master Linux, you learn to accept that you can't master it." Same point, different context.
- iaw 10y agoTheir perpetual self-doubt is probably a component of their mastery. If they assumed they were right after a point they would stop learning.
- matwood 10y agoIt's not so much doubt, but knowing enough to know there is so much you will not ever know without looking something up. C++ is a large language with a lot of dark corners. People who use it day in and day out know these dark corners exist. Even more so if they are working on a code base that many people have touched over many years.