7 ms·

It was a sad day when _why left programming. I always thought he was one of the most creative people currently working in any medium, and we were lucky to have

by nir 16y ago

It was a sad day when _why left programming. I always thought he was one of the most creative people currently working in any medium, and we were lucky to have him choose code to express his ideas. Does anyone have any idea what he's been doing since?

steveklabnik 16y ago
> Does anyone have any idea what he's been doing since? Basically, the Ruby community decided that if his wish was to be gone, we'd respect that wish. Nothing has been heard since his disappearance.
- koenigdavidmj 16y ago
  I think that any tendencies to find out stuff about him tend to lean in two directions: * The _why that we knew would not be averse to setting up a puzzle of this sort. * We simply want to make sure that he didn't kill himself or anything like that.
  - steveklabnik 16y ago
    Oh, absolutely. I didn't mean to say that anyone looking for him was being a jerk. I myself, as the maintainer of one of his projects, wish he was still around... the world needs more _why.
- jamesbritt 16y ago
  "Basically, the Ruby community decided that if his wish was to be gone, we'd respect that wish." You make it sound as if there were a single monolithic Ruby community where some sort of consensus gets reached on things. That's completely imaginary. Seems more like some folks, most most, who happen to be vocal in certain circles, decided to not try to dig shit up. But that's a reflection of those people, not _The_ Ruby Community.
  - steveklabnik 16y ago
    Every community has subfactions; no community has a hivemind. But, like when you say, the most vocal people all agree, and there's no large dissenting voice, I feel comfortable saying 'the community.'
jacquesm 16y ago
> I always thought he was one of the most creative people currently working in any medium, You live a sheltered life. A few million creative artists would probably disagree without you, some violently so. Yes, it was nice to have him around, no, he's not that special. Have a look at Alan Kay for an example of someone who is special.
- jfager 16y ago
  Slagging someone who approached computing the way Alan Kay has tirelessly advocated for his whole career by pointing out how short he falls of Alan Kay seems a little, uh, un-Alan-Kay-like.
  - jacquesm 16y ago
    True enough, I concede that it is un-Alan Kay like, but then again, I definitely am not Alan Kay. I just think that there are plenty of people that have done a lot more for programming in general than _Why (or however you spell it 'properly'), and that to exaggerate like this is not helping at all. Plenty of people are busy today doing very interesting stuff, let's go and talk about that instead of endless pouring over the ashes of one very briefly very productive programmer, artist if you wish. He choose to limit his contribution, I have heard more about _why and how fantastic his works are since he quit than I ever did before. Too much fandom, which in turn actually does _why a disservice because it turns off those that would otherwise still be open minded. edit: it is precisely because of the similarity in goal that I mentioned Alan Kay by the way, and I think Alan Kay has gone about it in a lot more structural fashion that _why, he's also still at it instead of taking his toys home because people won't play his way.
  - jacquesm 16y ago
    I've been thinking about this a bit more, and I think in fact that the reference to Alan Kay was probably quite appropriate. Alan Kay has been at it for decades, _why has done it for a few years and then destroyed (or at least, attempted to destroy) whatever he made. Now, in principle, that is his good right, but when you're an educator and people have started to come to depend on your educational tools and have built a little eco-system around it destroying it is an extremely selfish act and causes a lot of damage. The very least he could have done would have been to transfer the maintenance to others in an orderly way in stead of this wanton act of vandalism, and without a second of warning to boot. _why was a very good influence during the first period and he may have approached computing the way Alan Kay has tirelessly advocated for his whole career, but he wiped out a lot of that credit at the end.

by nir 16y ago

steveklabnik 16y ago

> Does anyone have any idea what he's been doing since? Basically, the Ruby community decided that if his wish was to be gone, we'd respect that wish. Nothing has been heard since his disappearance.

koenigdavidmj 16y ago
I think that any tendencies to find out stuff about him tend to lean in two directions: * The _why that we knew would not be averse to setting up a puzzle of this sort. * We simply want to make sure that he didn't kill himself or anything like that.
- steveklabnik 16y ago
  Oh, absolutely. I didn't mean to say that anyone looking for him was being a jerk. I myself, as the maintainer of one of his projects, wish he was still around... the world needs more _why.
jamesbritt 16y ago
"Basically, the Ruby community decided that if his wish was to be gone, we'd respect that wish." You make it sound as if there were a single monolithic Ruby community where some sort of consensus gets reached on things. That's completely imaginary. Seems more like some folks, most most, who happen to be vocal in certain circles, decided to not try to dig shit up. But that's a reflection of those people, not _The_ Ruby Community.
- steveklabnik 16y ago
  Every community has subfactions; no community has a hivemind. But, like when you say, the most vocal people all agree, and there's no large dissenting voice, I feel comfortable saying 'the community.'

jacquesm 16y ago

> I always thought he was one of the most creative people currently working in any medium, You live a sheltered life. A few million creative artists would probably disagree without you, some violently so. Yes, it was nice to have him around, no, he's not that special. Have a look at Alan Kay for an example of someone who is special.

jfager 16y ago
Slagging someone who approached computing the way Alan Kay has tirelessly advocated for his whole career by pointing out how short he falls of Alan Kay seems a little, uh, un-Alan-Kay-like.
- jacquesm 16y ago
  True enough, I concede that it is un-Alan Kay like, but then again, I definitely am not Alan Kay. I just think that there are plenty of people that have done a lot more for programming in general than _Why (or however you spell it 'properly'), and that to exaggerate like this is not helping at all. Plenty of people are busy today doing very interesting stuff, let's go and talk about that instead of endless pouring over the ashes of one very briefly very productive programmer, artist if you wish. He choose to limit his contribution, I have heard more about _why and how fantastic his works are since he quit than I ever did before. Too much fandom, which in turn actually does _why a disservice because it turns off those that would otherwise still be open minded. edit: it is precisely because of the similarity in goal that I mentioned Alan Kay by the way, and I think Alan Kay has gone about it in a lot more structural fashion that _why, he's also still at it instead of taking his toys home because people won't play his way.
- jacquesm 16y ago
  I've been thinking about this a bit more, and I think in fact that the reference to Alan Kay was probably quite appropriate. Alan Kay has been at it for decades, _why has done it for a few years and then destroyed (or at least, attempted to destroy) whatever he made. Now, in principle, that is his good right, but when you're an educator and people have started to come to depend on your educational tools and have built a little eco-system around it destroying it is an extremely selfish act and causes a lot of damage. The very least he could have done would have been to transfer the maintenance to others in an orderly way in stead of this wanton act of vandalism, and without a second of warning to boot. _why was a very good influence during the first period and he may have approached computing the way Alan Kay has tirelessly advocated for his whole career, but he wiped out a lot of that credit at the end.