5 ms·
> always figuring out ways to have his computer do the work for him One of my earliest programming mentors mused that the reason I might well become a decent p
by canada_dry 7y ago
> always figuring out ways to have his computer do the work for him
One of my earliest programming mentors mused that the reason I might well become a decent programmer was because I was both extremely stubborn and horrifically lazy. He'd observed that I would re-write code until it was the most efficient possible to automate a needed task that could save me time/effort in the future.
- ugexe 7y agoIt’s a common observation, and indeed known as one of the Three Virtues of a great programmer according to Larry Wall http://threevirtues.com http://threevirtues.com
- MaxBarraclough 7y agoThe developer of that site could have exhibited more Laziness and Hubris. Not sure I see a need for JavaScript there. Also, the virtue of Impatience seems to be at odds with the principle of YAGNI.
- taneq 7y agoImpatience is about writing code that is responsive, potentially by using some form of prediction to pre-load things. It's not about a programmer anticipating potential new features and implementing those.
- FeepingCreature 7y agoI think arrogance should replace impatience, which has redundancy with laziness. (Or possibly hubris, which is the weakest.) Arrogance makes you start projects that you are not skilled enough for, and grow in the doing.
- taejo 7y agoAren't hubris and arrogance more or less synonyms? With hubris being perhaps more specifically arrogance about one's abilities
- FeepingCreature 7y agoRight, but that's not exactly how it's used in the post.