6 ms·

"Software is simply the encoding of human thought, and as such has an almost unbounded design space" https://twitter.com/cdixon/status/1385928617943838721 http

"Software is simply the encoding of human thought, and as such has an almost unbounded design space" https://twitter.com/cdixon/status/1385928617943838721 https://twitter.com/cdixon/status/1385928617943838721

theodric 5y ago
This reminds me of Harry Mulisch congratulating authors for being very, very smart in _De ontdekking van de hemel_
- sho_hn 5y ago
  I don't know the context of the quote, but I don't think it's necessarily elitist. I have a lot of non-programmer friends who sometimes say that programming must be very dry and boring. My shiny go-to example to convince them otherwise is a nice desktop planetarium app, which you can't develop without first learning how the solar system works. Once you do you can write that down in code - an executable, computing form of knowledge, a living document that allows you to tinker, refine, share, reproduce. Software truly is pretty neat as a human societal tool with a wide range of applications. It should be for everyone. The other thing I tell them: If you've ever been in bed in the morning and planned out your steps for how to get that cup of coffee you need, designing an efficient bed-to-coffee algorithm, you've already been a a programmer.
ojbyrne 5y ago
So presumably cdixon writes software for a living...
- N1H1L 5y ago
  Of course not. He pontificates. Also tangential: I find Balaji completely insufferable. His Twitter feed almost looks like that of a cult leader than of a CTO.
nitrogen 5y ago
Twitter says "This is not available to you." Was this deleted, or does Twitter just not let the public see anything at all anymore?
- adamjb 5y ago
  Are you on mobile? I find that twitter can be quite uncooperative to those who aren't logged in on mobile.
  - toast0 5y ago
    It's similar on desktop, too.
- jwitthuhn 5y ago
  Twitter has about a 50% chance of telling me that every time I follow a link there. Hit f5 a few times, maybe a ctrl+f5 and you'll probably get there.
  - nitrogen 5y ago
    That worked. Amazing that it can be so flakey.
    - disgruntledphd2 5y ago
      Assume you're on Firefox? This has been an issue with Twitter since I started following links to it on Firefox. Crazy that they haven't fixed it yet, but that's Twitter I suppose.

theodric 5y ago

This reminds me of Harry Mulisch congratulating authors for being very, very smart in _De ontdekking van de hemel_

sho_hn 5y ago
I don't know the context of the quote, but I don't think it's necessarily elitist. I have a lot of non-programmer friends who sometimes say that programming must be very dry and boring. My shiny go-to example to convince them otherwise is a nice desktop planetarium app, which you can't develop without first learning how the solar system works. Once you do you can write that down in code - an executable, computing form of knowledge, a living document that allows you to tinker, refine, share, reproduce. Software truly is pretty neat as a human societal tool with a wide range of applications. It should be for everyone. The other thing I tell them: If you've ever been in bed in the morning and planned out your steps for how to get that cup of coffee you need, designing an efficient bed-to-coffee algorithm, you've already been a a programmer.

ojbyrne 5y ago

So presumably cdixon writes software for a living...

N1H1L 5y ago
Of course not. He pontificates. Also tangential: I find Balaji completely insufferable. His Twitter feed almost looks like that of a cult leader than of a CTO.

nitrogen 5y ago

Twitter says "This is not available to you." Was this deleted, or does Twitter just not let the public see anything at all anymore?

adamjb 5y ago
Are you on mobile? I find that twitter can be quite uncooperative to those who aren't logged in on mobile.
- toast0 5y ago
  It's similar on desktop, too.
jwitthuhn 5y ago
Twitter has about a 50% chance of telling me that every time I follow a link there. Hit f5 a few times, maybe a ctrl+f5 and you'll probably get there.
- nitrogen 5y ago
  That worked. Amazing that it can be so flakey.
  - disgruntledphd2 5y ago
    Assume you're on Firefox? This has been an issue with Twitter since I started following links to it on Firefox. Crazy that they haven't fixed it yet, but that's Twitter I suppose.