11 ms·

“I Don’t Know, Probably Made My Usual C”

87 points by agronaut 9y ago

jandrese 9y ago
I have to wonder if at some point an Esquire fact checker called up his professor and asked if he kept individual grades in ancient student records. My guess is that it has been too many years now and all records are lost.
- wyldfire 9y ago
  I suspect you're right. I think most universities only store things like evidence of semester final exams/papers. And those are probably not stored beyond ten years for undergrad.
- scott00 9y ago
  He graduated in 1966, so it's been at least 51 years now. There's a pretty good chance the professor is dead, and a near-certainty he's retired. So I would say close to no chance at this point. Back when Esquire did the story in 1978, however, it had only been 12-15 years. It's within the realm of possibility the grade book would have been findable at that time.
mistercow 9y ago
Seems to me that if someone is used to getting Cs, and they don't remember what great they made on a term paper, it's a pretty good bet that they got a C.
teraflop 9y ago
Tangentially relevant: this HN thread from 2015 has some fascinating comments about the early days of FedEx, from one of its first employees. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9281466 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9281466
mar77i 9y ago
I expected this article to be at least tangential to C programming. Glad to C otherwise, I'm almost grateful. I know C pretty well, though, and would miss or reinvent it if it wouldn't exist.
- make3 9y ago
  Maybe something else would have taken it's place and you would speculate about wanting to reinvent that instead if it didn't exist
mikeash 9y ago
It's interesting how much we (specifically Americans, but it may be a wider phenomenon than that) really love success stories that follow from academic mediocrity or failure. This is a perfect example: we really want Fred Smith to have built his business on an idea that got a bad grade in school. A really common example is the misconception that Albert Einstein did badly in school.
- make3 9y ago
  I think that it's because most people (like myself) don't have As, and wish to imagine themselves probably becoming the next Einstein even it they've showed no real sign of genius yet.
  - on_and_off 9y ago
    Funny that you would mention Einstein. He is often described as being a very average student, even bad at math while the opposite is of course true. You just can't revolution physics the way he did if you suck at math.
- elan_dilettante 9y ago
  If this isn't commonplace in human psychology maybe it's because most people in the US are taught from a young age that they're 'something special' you know? 'You can be anything, you can be the president!!' But then we get to school / college / work and find out we're actually really mediocre. We still all secretly think we're special, undiscovered, and unappreciated.
- muninn_ 9y ago
  We love stories of redemption and perseverance, of finding a way to succeed against all odds, and the victory of the underdog. It's in our national mythos.
- User23 9y ago
  That's because the skills and traits that get you straight As in school are not the skills and traits that produce innovation and greatness. The former relies on conforming to set expectations and the latter involves either ignoring those expectations altogether, or exceeding them to such a degree that they can barely be said to apply at all and in the process setting an entirely new baseline. Anyone who has any understanding of American history and our national character can see why we're attracted to nonconformists who achieve great success.
lanius 9y ago
Similarly, Maya Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial only earned a B in her architecture class at Yale. https://www.biography.com/news/maya-lin-vietnam-veterans-memorial https://www.biography.com/news/maya-lin-vietnam-veterans-mem...
- zeveb 9y ago
  Frankly, though, I think it's not that great. Sure, it has a lot of emotional resonance, but that's because the Vietnam War has lots of emotional resonance. Seen solely as a memorial, it's cold & impersonal. That kinda works, given Vietnam's role as the first U.S. victory[0] the country felt badly about. [0] Yes, the U.S. won: North & South Vietnam signed the Paris Peace Accords in 1973, in which North Vietnam agreed that the South Vietnamese people would be allowed to determine their own political future. It was only in 1974 & 1975, after Nixon's resignation, that North Vietnam again invaded South Vietnam, breaking the treaty.
lkrubner 9y ago
I've read elsewhere that the professor had a rule that you should not write a paper about anything illegal. That was because during the 1960s at least one idiot wrote a paper like "I'm gonna start a marijuana farm and make millions!!!!!!" So the professor had a rule, no papers about starting marijuana farms, or any other illegal idea. The FedEx that became successful in the 1970s was borderline illegal a few years earlier. Regulations were reduced during the 1970s and then finally phased out when President Jimmy Carter deregulated the transportation industry in 1980. So Fred Smith's idea was in the same category as starting a marijuana farm. Both ideas faced hostile governmental overview. This is indirectly acknowledged in the quote from Esquire: "His skeptical professor didn’t think such a business had a ghost of a chance, considering the airline industry’s intense competition and heavy regulation." Right, in the 1960s the idea would have been very difficult, but regulations changed a during the 1970s and largely ended in 1980. FedEx's big success in the 1970s and 1980s was made possible thanks to the change in regulations.
- kevin_thibedeau 9y ago
  > made possible thanks to the change in regulations. And a USPS that was notorious for losing mail at the time.
  - CodeWriter23 9y ago
    Still notorious.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

87 points by agronaut 9y ago

I have to wonder if at some point an Esquire fact checker called up his professor and asked if he kept individual grades in ancient student records. My guess is that it has been too many years now and all records are lost.

wyldfire 9y ago
I suspect you're right. I think most universities only store things like evidence of semester final exams/papers. And those are probably not stored beyond ten years for undergrad.
scott00 9y ago
He graduated in 1966, so it's been at least 51 years now. There's a pretty good chance the professor is dead, and a near-certainty he's retired. So I would say close to no chance at this point. Back when Esquire did the story in 1978, however, it had only been 12-15 years. It's within the realm of possibility the grade book would have been findable at that time.

mistercow 9y ago

Seems to me that if someone is used to getting Cs, and they don't remember what great they made on a term paper, it's a pretty good bet that they got a C.

teraflop 9y ago

Tangentially relevant: this HN thread from 2015 has some fascinating comments about the early days of FedEx, from one of its first employees. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9281466 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9281466

mar77i 9y ago

I expected this article to be at least tangential to C programming. Glad to C otherwise, I'm almost grateful. I know C pretty well, though, and would miss or reinvent it if it wouldn't exist.

make3 9y ago
Maybe something else would have taken it's place and you would speculate about wanting to reinvent that instead if it didn't exist

mikeash 9y ago

It's interesting how much we (specifically Americans, but it may be a wider phenomenon than that) really love success stories that follow from academic mediocrity or failure. This is a perfect example: we really want Fred Smith to have built his business on an idea that got a bad grade in school. A really common example is the misconception that Albert Einstein did badly in school.

make3 9y ago
I think that it's because most people (like myself) don't have As, and wish to imagine themselves probably becoming the next Einstein even it they've showed no real sign of genius yet.
- on_and_off 9y ago
  Funny that you would mention Einstein. He is often described as being a very average student, even bad at math while the opposite is of course true. You just can't revolution physics the way he did if you suck at math.
elan_dilettante 9y ago
If this isn't commonplace in human psychology maybe it's because most people in the US are taught from a young age that they're 'something special' you know? 'You can be anything, you can be the president!!' But then we get to school / college / work and find out we're actually really mediocre. We still all secretly think we're special, undiscovered, and unappreciated.
muninn_ 9y ago
We love stories of redemption and perseverance, of finding a way to succeed against all odds, and the victory of the underdog. It's in our national mythos.
User23 9y ago
That's because the skills and traits that get you straight As in school are not the skills and traits that produce innovation and greatness. The former relies on conforming to set expectations and the latter involves either ignoring those expectations altogether, or exceeding them to such a degree that they can barely be said to apply at all and in the process setting an entirely new baseline. Anyone who has any understanding of American history and our national character can see why we're attracted to nonconformists who achieve great success.

lanius 9y ago

Similarly, Maya Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial only earned a B in her architecture class at Yale. https://www.biography.com/news/maya-lin-vietnam-veterans-memorial https://www.biography.com/news/maya-lin-vietnam-veterans-mem...

zeveb 9y ago
Frankly, though, I think it's not that great. Sure, it has a lot of emotional resonance, but that's because the Vietnam War has lots of emotional resonance. Seen solely as a memorial, it's cold & impersonal. That kinda works, given Vietnam's role as the first U.S. victory[0] the country felt badly about. [0] Yes, the U.S. won: North & South Vietnam signed the Paris Peace Accords in 1973, in which North Vietnam agreed that the South Vietnamese people would be allowed to determine their own political future. It was only in 1974 & 1975, after Nixon's resignation, that North Vietnam again invaded South Vietnam, breaking the treaty.

lkrubner 9y ago

I've read elsewhere that the professor had a rule that you should not write a paper about anything illegal. That was because during the 1960s at least one idiot wrote a paper like "I'm gonna start a marijuana farm and make millions!!!!!!" So the professor had a rule, no papers about starting marijuana farms, or any other illegal idea. The FedEx that became successful in the 1970s was borderline illegal a few years earlier. Regulations were reduced during the 1970s and then finally phased out when President Jimmy Carter deregulated the transportation industry in 1980. So Fred Smith's idea was in the same category as starting a marijuana farm. Both ideas faced hostile governmental overview. This is indirectly acknowledged in the quote from Esquire: "His skeptical professor didn’t think such a business had a ghost of a chance, considering the airline industry’s intense competition and heavy regulation." Right, in the 1960s the idea would have been very difficult, but regulations changed a during the 1970s and largely ended in 1980. FedEx's big success in the 1970s and 1980s was made possible thanks to the change in regulations.

kevin_thibedeau 9y ago
> made possible thanks to the change in regulations. And a USPS that was notorious for losing mail at the time.
- CodeWriter23 9y ago
  Still notorious.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]