6 ms·

Bellard is actually a genius, right? What's his secret? The project list at bellard.org is impressive.

by egonschiele 6y ago

rmwaite 6y ago
I think his secret is that he’s a genius :-)
eismcc 6y ago
Genius and available time? Even if your smart but don’t have time you can’t do this volume of work.
- kevinhq 6y ago
  i guess genius and have commitment?
mhh__ 6y ago
He's in his 50s keep in mind. Most people of his productivity get shoved into management long before his age. He's very good but it's not like he did ffmpeg last week and QuickJS this week. Some people are just born to be able to work all day all week, if you are one of those people please don't throw it away (I am not one of them). I think I have the knowledge to do most of his projects e.g. I have the mathematics, and RF engineering to do (say) the LTE stuff but there is absolutely no way in hell I could ever sit down and write it (I've done my own RF projects but I burn out so quickly).
- chii 6y ago
  > get shoved into management long before his age. Problem is that management pays so much better than a contributor of code. Society has collectively decided that management is worth more economically, than individual contributors.
  - sieabahlpark 6y ago
    Because good managers are hard to come by so you have to give some sort of incentive to attract and retain the good ones. Good managers increase the output of their team, bad ones try to make themselves look the best.
    - iratewizard 6y ago
      Plus good managers who were top notch contributors grow the next generation of top notch contributors.
      - mhh__ 6y ago
        Exactly, in my experience of open source so far, the biggest difference from a good project to a great project is management - even as simple as just keeping track of PRs. If you make a PR and it gets left to die after a few days, who cares? If someone keeps an eye on it and tells you what they're looking for with a smile, you're going to try and get it done.
    - travisgriggs 6y ago
      But... the Peter Principle? You seem to be assuming that there is an equivalence between good programmers and good managers? I wish I lived in this alternative reality you describe. My career has been littered where non technical managers--essentially clerks--get paid more than I do to sit around with a others and talk about what should be done while I (and colleagues) do all the doing. I end up doing a LOT of "managing" from behind the lines in all these cases. Frankly, the reality distortion field where "a good manager has increased the output of their team" has been such a small observed sample, that I wouldn't be able to claim there was even a correlation between the two, much less causality; I'd just chalk it up to something like "the water" or "the lighting" if I saw it happening with any regularity. (QuickJS seems tres cool; hat tip to the author)
    - dnautics 6y ago
      > Because good managers are hard to come by so you have to give some sort of incentive to attract and retain the good ones. That's a nice economics just-so story. But do people think that the median manager is effective? I'd say less than half of my managers have been effective. Some of them even got promoted.
- tinus_hn 6y ago
  I think he also did Qemu in between.
steve_taylor 6y ago
My best guess is that he doesn’t have kids.
- jfo 6y ago
  I would have thought this was an asshole comment before I had kids. Young ones take SO much time. I don’t regret kids at all but I regret not doing even more with my time previously!
  - hungryforcodes 6y ago
    Choosing not to have kids is just a choice; it definitely doesn’t make you an asshole.
    - jfo 6y ago
      No no you misunderstand I would have thought it was an asshole comment for implying that having kids makes you less productive. But having kids DOES make you less productive (at least when they are young) or at the very least removes great swaths of time that you would have had available otherwise, if you involve yourself with their lives at all. Having kids or not is intensely personal and everyone has to make that decision themselves, not having them is extremely valid
  - imesh 6y ago
    Unfortunately my time prior to kids was spent becoming a mediocre developer and not becoming Bellard.
mathgladiator 6y ago
Probably progress every day.

Bellard is actually a genius, right? What's his secret? The project list at bellard.org is impressive.

rmwaite 6y ago

I think his secret is that he’s a genius :-)

eismcc 6y ago

Genius and available time? Even if your smart but don’t have time you can’t do this volume of work.

kevinhq 6y ago
i guess genius and have commitment?

mhh__ 6y ago

He's in his 50s keep in mind. Most people of his productivity get shoved into management long before his age. He's very good but it's not like he did ffmpeg last week and QuickJS this week. Some people are just born to be able to work all day all week, if you are one of those people please don't throw it away (I am not one of them). I think I have the knowledge to do most of his projects e.g. I have the mathematics, and RF engineering to do (say) the LTE stuff but there is absolutely no way in hell I could ever sit down and write it (I've done my own RF projects but I burn out so quickly).

chii 6y ago
> get shoved into management long before his age. Problem is that management pays so much better than a contributor of code. Society has collectively decided that management is worth more economically, than individual contributors.
- sieabahlpark 6y ago
  Because good managers are hard to come by so you have to give some sort of incentive to attract and retain the good ones. Good managers increase the output of their team, bad ones try to make themselves look the best.
  - iratewizard 6y ago
    Plus good managers who were top notch contributors grow the next generation of top notch contributors.
    - mhh__ 6y ago
      Exactly, in my experience of open source so far, the biggest difference from a good project to a great project is management - even as simple as just keeping track of PRs. If you make a PR and it gets left to die after a few days, who cares? If someone keeps an eye on it and tells you what they're looking for with a smile, you're going to try and get it done.
  - travisgriggs 6y ago
    But... the Peter Principle? You seem to be assuming that there is an equivalence between good programmers and good managers? I wish I lived in this alternative reality you describe. My career has been littered where non technical managers--essentially clerks--get paid more than I do to sit around with a others and talk about what should be done while I (and colleagues) do all the doing. I end up doing a LOT of "managing" from behind the lines in all these cases. Frankly, the reality distortion field where "a good manager has increased the output of their team" has been such a small observed sample, that I wouldn't be able to claim there was even a correlation between the two, much less causality; I'd just chalk it up to something like "the water" or "the lighting" if I saw it happening with any regularity. (QuickJS seems tres cool; hat tip to the author)
  - dnautics 6y ago
    > Because good managers are hard to come by so you have to give some sort of incentive to attract and retain the good ones. That's a nice economics just-so story. But do people think that the median manager is effective? I'd say less than half of my managers have been effective. Some of them even got promoted.
tinus_hn 6y ago
I think he also did Qemu in between.

steve_taylor 6y ago

My best guess is that he doesn’t have kids.

jfo 6y ago
I would have thought this was an asshole comment before I had kids. Young ones take SO much time. I don’t regret kids at all but I regret not doing even more with my time previously!
- hungryforcodes 6y ago
  Choosing not to have kids is just a choice; it definitely doesn’t make you an asshole.
  - jfo 6y ago
    No no you misunderstand I would have thought it was an asshole comment for implying that having kids makes you less productive. But having kids DOES make you less productive (at least when they are young) or at the very least removes great swaths of time that you would have had available otherwise, if you involve yourself with their lives at all. Having kids or not is intensely personal and everyone has to make that decision themselves, not having them is extremely valid
- imesh 6y ago
  Unfortunately my time prior to kids was spent becoming a mediocre developer and not becoming Bellard.

mathgladiator 6y ago

Probably progress every day.