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> Gross, right? m4 is great for macros and includes. Not super fun for general programming. But, like immigrants, it gets the job done. Weird comparison.
by Hendrikto 5y ago
> Gross, right? m4 is great for macros and includes. Not super fun for general programming. But, like immigrants, it gets the job done.
Weird comparison.
- rtpg 5y agoI think it’s a reference to the line in the Hamilton song.
- hvdijk 5y agoThis was right after m4 was called gross and was said only to be good for special purposes, that it was to be avoided in general and better alternatives should be used instead. Then it says m4 is like immigrants. If it's a song reference, it's a rather poorly chosen one.
- codebeaker 5y agoAs a European reading this it sounds like the author has some kind of narcissistic take on exactly what kind of immigrants their country has and where they "belong". Of course what the author wrote, and what I understood needn't align, we're different, with different cultural references, but this stood out to me enough that I stopped reading to revisit HN to find out if anyone else observed the same casual use of what seems like inappropriately dismissive language.
- camgunz 5y agoThis is yeah, probably a cultural mixup. There's a fair number of people in the US who view and characterize immigrants as freeloaders, when the truth is they work harder than "natives" and our economy depends on them. And like a sibling comment says, it's a reference to a line from Hamilton, which celebrates in lots of ways the US' diverse heritage.