4 ms·

Does Orson Scott Card know anything about software development? It’s a legitimate question, I’m not trying to sound dismissive.

by vlunkr 4y ago

wcunning 4y ago
It's a rewording of a passage from, I believe, Ender's Game (maybe Speaker for the Dead) with software instead of Players of the Game. It works surprisingly well, though I think I may not be the target audience, having never worked at a startup.
- vlunkr 4y ago
  Ah. That makes sense
- majormajor 4y ago
  Is it? It doesn't ring a bell at all (or really fit with the topic of either one of those books) and I don't see that mentioned in the previous discussion links posted above on a quick search; everything there was about society/politics/military more than business. Those discussions include this comment which says he worked on video games in the 80s (dialogue, AFAICT, and story; not code), which is probably close enough experience: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6818816 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6818816
- kjfarm 4y ago
  Some of his later work may sound similar, but the original cited source is "Windows Sources: The Magazine for Windows Experts, March 1995" as evidenced by https://homepages.uc.edu/~thomam/Articles/HowSoftwareCompaniesDie.pdf https://homepages.uc.edu/~thomam/Articles/HowSoftwareCompani...
nsajko 4y ago
Could be some April Fools leftovers.
gonzo41 4y ago
It does seem to be a very 80-90's view of the world.
- Aeolun 4y ago
  Probably as correct then as it is now.
headstorm 4y ago
I don't know the answer to that question, but Card was an editor for Compute! books for nine months[1](video interview), and in that role wrote a two-part series about computer game development 40 years ago, in issues 38[2] and 39[3] of Compute! magazine. [1] https://archive.org/details/orson-scott-card https://archive.org/details/orson-scott-card [2] https://archive.org/details/1983-07-compute-magazine/page/n31/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/1983-07-compute-magazine/page/n3... [3] https://archive.org/details/1983-08-compute-magazine/page/n75/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/1983-08-compute-magazine/page/n7...
- pcthrowaway 4y ago
  His book Lost Boys (which is supposedly semi-autobiographical) is told from the perspective a mormon game developer. I'm convinced he's dabbled in programming, even though it's not his vocation.

Does Orson Scott Card know anything about software development? It’s a legitimate question, I’m not trying to sound dismissive.

by vlunkr 4y ago

Does Orson Scott Card know anything about software development? It’s a legitimate question, I’m not trying to sound dismissive.

wcunning 4y ago

It's a rewording of a passage from, I believe, Ender's Game (maybe Speaker for the Dead) with software instead of Players of the Game. It works surprisingly well, though I think I may not be the target audience, having never worked at a startup.

vlunkr 4y ago
Ah. That makes sense
majormajor 4y ago
Is it? It doesn't ring a bell at all (or really fit with the topic of either one of those books) and I don't see that mentioned in the previous discussion links posted above on a quick search; everything there was about society/politics/military more than business. Those discussions include this comment which says he worked on video games in the 80s (dialogue, AFAICT, and story; not code), which is probably close enough experience: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6818816 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6818816
kjfarm 4y ago
Some of his later work may sound similar, but the original cited source is "Windows Sources: The Magazine for Windows Experts, March 1995" as evidenced by https://homepages.uc.edu/~thomam/Articles/HowSoftwareCompaniesDie.pdf https://homepages.uc.edu/~thomam/Articles/HowSoftwareCompani...

nsajko 4y ago

Could be some April Fools leftovers.

gonzo41 4y ago

It does seem to be a very 80-90's view of the world.

Aeolun 4y ago
Probably as correct then as it is now.

headstorm 4y ago

I don't know the answer to that question, but Card was an editor for Compute! books for nine months[1](video interview), and in that role wrote a two-part series about computer game development 40 years ago, in issues 38[2] and 39[3] of Compute! magazine. [1] https://archive.org/details/orson-scott-card https://archive.org/details/orson-scott-card [2] https://archive.org/details/1983-07-compute-magazine/page/n31/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/1983-07-compute-magazine/page/n3... [3] https://archive.org/details/1983-08-compute-magazine/page/n75/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/1983-08-compute-magazine/page/n7...

pcthrowaway 4y ago
His book Lost Boys (which is supposedly semi-autobiographical) is told from the perspective a mormon game developer. I'm convinced he's dabbled in programming, even though it's not his vocation.