5 ms·

Also the three great virtues of a programmer: Persistence, Patience, and Humbleness.

by lioeters 6y ago

naringas 6y ago
so a total of 6 great virtues for every programmer as two sets of 3 conflicting pairs of virtues
- Ericson2314 6y ago
  One is operational expenditures of programmer time, the other is for capital expenditures of time. (Save yourself for the yak shave!)
- yongjik 6y ago
  That sums up our profession so perfectly I want to cry.
artsyca 6y ago
Oh c'mon get over yourself Humble people don't go around talking about how humble they are, much less sideways virtue signalling on how patient and pathetic they are. If you're going to blow your own trumpet out of the side of your mouth you should consider a career in politics and leave program writing to the professionals. Edit! Oh that's not hubristic enough you milk fed cherry pickers? Why not report me to the principal!
- Supermancho 6y ago
  > Humble people don't go around talking about how humble they are, I'm wrong all the time. It's in my signatures - Often wrong, but never in doubt (source: Garfield). I'm decisive and I make mistakes and those behaviors are not at odds. It's important to remember that no matter how trivial the programming task, you are likely to have made a mistake somewhere and that's why everything should be tested, code reviewed, etc. People don't re-read their code often enough and these practices force it.
  - JadeNB 6y ago
    > It's important to remember that no matter how trivial the programming task, you are likely to have made a mistake somewhere and that's why everything should be tested, code reviewed, etc. A good time to roll out Knuth's "I have only proven this code correct, not tested it", and, less slogan-y but maybe more convincing, "Nearly all binary sorts and merge sorts are broken" (https://ai.googleblog.com/2006/06/extra-extra-read-all-about-it-nearly.html https://ai.googleblog.com/2006/06/extra-extra-read-all-about...).
- dang 6y ago
  Would you please stop posting unsubstantive comments and supercilious disses to HN? It's not good discussion, regardless of how badly other people are flawed. You've unfortunately posted like this a lot, and it's not in the intended spirit of the site. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
austincheney 6y ago
Humility and persistence certainly separate the more competent from the crowd, but it’s the crowd that defines the profession.
lambdatronics 6y ago
“The opposite of a fact is a falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth.” – Niels Bohr

Also the three great virtues of a programmer: Persistence, Patience, and Humbleness.

naringas 6y ago

so a total of 6 great virtues for every programmer as two sets of 3 conflicting pairs of virtues

Ericson2314 6y ago
One is operational expenditures of programmer time, the other is for capital expenditures of time. (Save yourself for the yak shave!)
yongjik 6y ago
That sums up our profession so perfectly I want to cry.

artsyca 6y ago

Oh c'mon get over yourself Humble people don't go around talking about how humble they are, much less sideways virtue signalling on how patient and pathetic they are. If you're going to blow your own trumpet out of the side of your mouth you should consider a career in politics and leave program writing to the professionals. Edit! Oh that's not hubristic enough you milk fed cherry pickers? Why not report me to the principal!

Supermancho 6y ago
> Humble people don't go around talking about how humble they are, I'm wrong all the time. It's in my signatures - Often wrong, but never in doubt (source: Garfield). I'm decisive and I make mistakes and those behaviors are not at odds. It's important to remember that no matter how trivial the programming task, you are likely to have made a mistake somewhere and that's why everything should be tested, code reviewed, etc. People don't re-read their code often enough and these practices force it.
- JadeNB 6y ago
  > It's important to remember that no matter how trivial the programming task, you are likely to have made a mistake somewhere and that's why everything should be tested, code reviewed, etc. A good time to roll out Knuth's "I have only proven this code correct, not tested it", and, less slogan-y but maybe more convincing, "Nearly all binary sorts and merge sorts are broken" (https://ai.googleblog.com/2006/06/extra-extra-read-all-about-it-nearly.html https://ai.googleblog.com/2006/06/extra-extra-read-all-about...).
dang 6y ago
Would you please stop posting unsubstantive comments and supercilious disses to HN? It's not good discussion, regardless of how badly other people are flawed. You've unfortunately posted like this a lot, and it's not in the intended spirit of the site. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

austincheney 6y ago

Humility and persistence certainly separate the more competent from the crowd, but it’s the crowd that defines the profession.

lambdatronics 6y ago

“The opposite of a fact is a falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth.” – Niels Bohr