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> The Software shall be used for Good, not Evil. It's so funny because Crockford is one of the most persuasive speakers and coders on avoiding ambiguity, on re

> The Software shall be used for Good, not Evil. It's so funny because Crockford is one of the most persuasive speakers and coders on avoiding ambiguity, on readability over coders desire to "express themselves" in code, and on making language design decisions based on research. He then takes a step outside his area of expertise and chooses to express himself with an ambiguous license created without consulting anyone who has domain expertise in software licensing.

ptx 6y ago
He also made some strange linguistic choices in his latest book[1]: "The word for 1 is misspelled. I use the corrected spelling wun. The pronunciation of one does not conform to any of the standard or special rules of English pronunciation." [1] https://howjavascriptworks.com/sample.html https://howjavascriptworks.com/sample.html
- knolax 6y ago
  Side note but that is the best typography I've ever seen in an HTML document.
  - mhh__ 6y ago
    There are a few latex mimicking CSS styles with a similar vibe, I suggest having a look at those
- ChrisSD 6y ago
  It is quite amusing that he thinks the English language has "rules" as though it were a well designed programming language.
  - erikerikson 6y ago
    The rules of a language are its conventions.
- dgellow 6y ago
  The context matters here: > The word for 1 is misspelled. I use the corrected spelling wun. The pronunciation of one does not conform to any of the standard or special rules of English pronunciation. And having the word for 1 start with the letter that looks like 0 is a bug. > The spelling of wun is unfamiliar to you so it might feel wrong. I am doing this intentionally to give you practice with the idea that a bad feeling about something unfamiliar is not proof that it is wrong. > This is how spelling reform happens. For example, some cat decides that it really would be better if through were spelled thru because it does not make sense that half of the letters in a popular word be silent, being wildly inefficient and putting an unnecessary burden on students of the language. Spelling reform is a struggle between tradition and reason, and sometimes, reason wins. I feel the same way about programming languages. So if wun makes more sense to you than one, then please join me in the effort. I understand that he's making a point on how reforming systems can feel, the example of "wun" instead of "one" is a way to communicate that to readers.
umvi 6y ago
He probably sees it as a form of "sticking it to the man". He probably did it as a joke initially and is now digging in his heels. He remembers the 80s when hacker culture abounded and software could have lots of inside jokes and lawyers were nowhere to be found. Now that software has gone "mainstream" and copyright and patents and lawyers and courts and legal red tape has been rolled out everywhere he is refusing to conform and is instead sticking to his guns.

ptx 6y ago

He also made some strange linguistic choices in his latest book[1]: "The word for 1 is misspelled. I use the corrected spelling wun. The pronunciation of one does not conform to any of the standard or special rules of English pronunciation." [1] https://howjavascriptworks.com/sample.html https://howjavascriptworks.com/sample.html

knolax 6y ago
Side note but that is the best typography I've ever seen in an HTML document.
- mhh__ 6y ago
  There are a few latex mimicking CSS styles with a similar vibe, I suggest having a look at those
ChrisSD 6y ago
It is quite amusing that he thinks the English language has "rules" as though it were a well designed programming language.
- erikerikson 6y ago
  The rules of a language are its conventions.
dgellow 6y ago
The context matters here: > The word for 1 is misspelled. I use the corrected spelling wun. The pronunciation of one does not conform to any of the standard or special rules of English pronunciation. And having the word for 1 start with the letter that looks like 0 is a bug. > The spelling of wun is unfamiliar to you so it might feel wrong. I am doing this intentionally to give you practice with the idea that a bad feeling about something unfamiliar is not proof that it is wrong. > This is how spelling reform happens. For example, some cat decides that it really would be better if through were spelled thru because it does not make sense that half of the letters in a popular word be silent, being wildly inefficient and putting an unnecessary burden on students of the language. Spelling reform is a struggle between tradition and reason, and sometimes, reason wins. I feel the same way about programming languages. So if wun makes more sense to you than one, then please join me in the effort. I understand that he's making a point on how reforming systems can feel, the example of "wun" instead of "one" is a way to communicate that to readers.

umvi 6y ago

He probably sees it as a form of "sticking it to the man". He probably did it as a joke initially and is now digging in his heels. He remembers the 80s when hacker culture abounded and software could have lots of inside jokes and lawyers were nowhere to be found. Now that software has gone "mainstream" and copyright and patents and lawyers and courts and legal red tape has been rolled out everywhere he is refusing to conform and is instead sticking to his guns.