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Vital details: From http://git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/stage0.git/tree/README http://git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/stage0.git/tree/README (which also declares

Vital details: From http://git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/stage0.git/tree/README http://git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/stage0.git/tree/README (which also declares GPL3): > This is a set of manually created hex programs in a Cthulhu Path to madness fashion. Which only have the goal of creating a bootstrapping path to a C compiler capable of Compiling GCC, with only the explicit requirement of a single 1 KByte binary or less. > Additionally, all code must be able to be understood by 70% of the population of programmers. If the code can not be understood by that volume, it needs to be altered until it satifies the above requirement. From https://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/stage0/ https://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/stage0/: > A class of minimal bootstrap binaries that has a reproducible build on all platforms. Providing a verifiable base for defeating the trusting trust attack. Cooooooool.

rasengan 8y ago
I am in the bottom 30 percentile of programmers. :(
- shawn 8y ago
  Everyone was. Work hard and force yourself to learn something alien each day.
  - brutal_chaos 8y ago
    [A bit OT] Brilliantly said. I always enjoy reading encouraging statements like these; especially in response to self doubt.
  - todd8 8y ago
    Shawn’s perspective is great. Like chess players or golfers, there is (almost) always someone better, but practice improves our ability. Programming takes practice, but it gets more satisfying the more you do of it. My first programming language was Fortran, but I couldn’t get my first program to compile! I never did. I switched to something easier, Basic. Then went back to Fortran successfully. I toyed with programming for years before deciding on it as a career. Ten years from my first attempts I was a good programmer doing really interesting things. In twenty years I was architecting distributed systems for IBM’s new AIX operating systems. In thirty years I was chief scientist at a very successful software company. Key to my success was to keep learning from people smarter than me by reading, taking classes, and practice doing hard things. Although it has now been fifty years, I still love programming.
- giomasce 8y ago
  I would not say that, in its current form, that code is understandable by 70% of programmers, unless you define that word "programmer" in a very restrictive sense.

rasengan 8y ago

I am in the bottom 30 percentile of programmers. :(

shawn 8y ago
Everyone was. Work hard and force yourself to learn something alien each day.
- brutal_chaos 8y ago
  [A bit OT] Brilliantly said. I always enjoy reading encouraging statements like these; especially in response to self doubt.
- todd8 8y ago
  Shawn’s perspective is great. Like chess players or golfers, there is (almost) always someone better, but practice improves our ability. Programming takes practice, but it gets more satisfying the more you do of it. My first programming language was Fortran, but I couldn’t get my first program to compile! I never did. I switched to something easier, Basic. Then went back to Fortran successfully. I toyed with programming for years before deciding on it as a career. Ten years from my first attempts I was a good programmer doing really interesting things. In twenty years I was architecting distributed systems for IBM’s new AIX operating systems. In thirty years I was chief scientist at a very successful software company. Key to my success was to keep learning from people smarter than me by reading, taking classes, and practice doing hard things. Although it has now been fifty years, I still love programming.
giomasce 8y ago
I would not say that, in its current form, that code is understandable by 70% of programmers, unless you define that word "programmer" in a very restrictive sense.