4 ms·

" Most of you are familiar with the virtues of a programmer. There are three, of course: laziness, impatience, and hubris. Larry Wall" I'm offended by

" Most of you are familiar with the virtues of a programmer. There are three, of course: laziness, impatience, and hubris. Larry Wall" I'm offended by how accurate this quote describes me.

kragen 6y ago
You may be interested in the context, which is excerpted in Wiki: http://wiki.c2.com/?LazinessImpatienceHubris= http://wiki.c2.com/?LazinessImpatienceHubris= Laziness The quality that makes you go to great effort to reduce overall energy expenditure. It makes you write labor-saving programs that other people will find useful, and document what you wrote so you don't have to answer so many questions about it. Hence, the first great virtue of a programmer. Also hence, this book. See also impatience and hubris. (p.609) Impatience The anger you feel when the computer is being lazy. This makes you write programs that don't just react to your needs, but actually anticipate them. Or at least pretend to. Hence, the second great virtue of a programmer. See also laziness and hubris. (p.608) Hubris Excessive pride, the sort of thing Zeus zaps you for. Also the quality that makes you write (and maintain) programs that other people won't want to say bad things about. Hence, the third great virtue of a programmer. See also laziness and impatience. (p.607) ⁂ So, if that describes you, you should be very proud indeed.
- jfengel 6y ago
  That's not a definition of hubris that Aristotle would recognize. It's closer to Timē and Aretē.
  - kragen 6y ago
    That's not even 0.1% of the things Larry Wall disagrees with Aristotle about.
- Tcepsa 6y ago
  I know it's not in keeping with the definition provided, but I like to interpret hubris in that context as "Believing that they are capable of writing software that is compatible with the second virtue, and that they can write it in a manner compatible with the first."

" Most of you are familiar with the virtues of a programmer. There are three, of course: laziness, impatience, and hubris. Larry Wall" I'm offended by how accurate this quote describes me.

kragen 6y ago

You may be interested in the context, which is excerpted in Wiki: http://wiki.c2.com/?LazinessImpatienceHubris= http://wiki.c2.com/?LazinessImpatienceHubris= Laziness The quality that makes you go to great effort to reduce overall energy expenditure. It makes you write labor-saving programs that other people will find useful, and document what you wrote so you don't have to answer so many questions about it. Hence, the first great virtue of a programmer. Also hence, this book. See also impatience and hubris. (p.609) Impatience The anger you feel when the computer is being lazy. This makes you write programs that don't just react to your needs, but actually anticipate them. Or at least pretend to. Hence, the second great virtue of a programmer. See also laziness and hubris. (p.608) Hubris Excessive pride, the sort of thing Zeus zaps you for. Also the quality that makes you write (and maintain) programs that other people won't want to say bad things about. Hence, the third great virtue of a programmer. See also laziness and impatience. (p.607) ⁂ So, if that describes you, you should be very proud indeed.

jfengel 6y ago
That's not a definition of hubris that Aristotle would recognize. It's closer to Timē and Aretē.
- kragen 6y ago
  That's not even 0.1% of the things Larry Wall disagrees with Aristotle about.
Tcepsa 6y ago
I know it's not in keeping with the definition provided, but I like to interpret hubris in that context as "Believing that they are capable of writing software that is compatible with the second virtue, and that they can write it in a manner compatible with the first."