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Watch some of the intros to his performance aware programming videos. He doesn’t want everyone to use C or Assembly. He also doesn’t want everyone micro-optimiz

Watch some of the intros to his performance aware programming videos. He doesn’t want everyone to use C or Assembly. He also doesn’t want everyone micro-optimizing things. >compromises we find somewhat acceptable His entire point is that most developers aren’t actually aware of the compromises they are making. Which is why he calls it “performance aware programming” and not performance first programming.

TheMode 2y ago
I have actually watched many of his videos, as an individual I very much like his advices. What I am saying however is that this has nothing to do whatsoever with improving software at scale. But my point still stands, Casey focuses solely on the cultural aspect but completely ignore the technical one. He says that developers became lazy/uninformed, but why did that happen? Why would anything he currently say solve it?
- sarchertech 2y ago
  I don’t think you can blame him for not having a large scale systemic solution to the problem. Imagine if there was a chef on YouTube who was telling everyone how bad it was that we are eating over processed food, and he makes videos showing how easy it is to make your own food at home. Would it be reasonable to comment to people who share the chefs message that you don’t like how his cooking videos don’t solve the root problem that processed food is too cheap and tasty? And here’s the thing, he doesn’t have to solve the whole problem himself. Many developers have no idea that there’s even problem. If he spreads the message about what’s possible and more developers become “performance aware” maybe it causes more people to expect performance from their libraries, frameworks, and languages. Maybe some of these newly performance aware programmers are the next generation of language and library developers and it inspires one of them to create the technological solution you’re hypothesizing.
  - TheMode 2y ago
    But he says that he has a large-scale systemic solution, it is literally the reason for his videos. He isn't doing it so I can get my CPU trivia, but because he believes it will result in better software. Been at it for years, and so far I don't think it's going better. My opinion is that better software will not come from CPU-aware people, but from people having enough of all the BS and switching to simpler solutions. You speak about language/libraries, what make you think it would come from those? I do believe he is smart, just unfortunate he puts his talent on the wrong path. It's not like he does not understand the impact of simplicity/working independently, as it is how he made his "fast terminal" showcase: by tying to bypass system libraries as much as possible, transforming it into a simple (or at least less theoretical) problem.
    - sarchertech 2y ago
      This is such an absolutely wild take to me. Screw those Mythbusters guys trying to explain the scientific method to people. That's not a systemic solution to fixing scientific illiteracy in the US. Sesame Street teaching kids to count? Those guys are way off the mark because it's not going to measurably improve economic performance. You'll never actually change anything just by teaching people stuff. I'm 100% certain that Casey Muratori doesn't think that his paywalled course is going convince literally every programmer to to care about performance, or to stop Facebook from building slow apps. He's trying to convince some small percentage of people that performance is something they should be thinking about when they program, and that they should understand the tradeoffs they are making when they choose to use some slow method, algorithm, library, language, or system because it provides some other benefit. When someone writes a book like "math for dummies" that says on the back cover "I think basic math is a useful skill for everyone to have, and if we all learned basic math the world would be a better place!" That's not the author stating their true belief that their book is going to literally teach the majority of the world basic math. That's an aspirational goal or in the worst case it's sales copy. Publicly calling that person out for wasting their time is really something else. Creating straw men to attack like "You will never be able to force developers worldwide to start writing everything in C/Assembly" when he explicitly states that this isn't his goal makes me think you're just looking for some reason to shit on the guy. >You speak about language/libraries, what make you think it would come from those? I have no idea when if or how a technical solution will be found.

TheMode 2y ago

I have actually watched many of his videos, as an individual I very much like his advices. What I am saying however is that this has nothing to do whatsoever with improving software at scale. But my point still stands, Casey focuses solely on the cultural aspect but completely ignore the technical one. He says that developers became lazy/uninformed, but why did that happen? Why would anything he currently say solve it?

sarchertech 2y ago
I don’t think you can blame him for not having a large scale systemic solution to the problem. Imagine if there was a chef on YouTube who was telling everyone how bad it was that we are eating over processed food, and he makes videos showing how easy it is to make your own food at home. Would it be reasonable to comment to people who share the chefs message that you don’t like how his cooking videos don’t solve the root problem that processed food is too cheap and tasty? And here’s the thing, he doesn’t have to solve the whole problem himself. Many developers have no idea that there’s even problem. If he spreads the message about what’s possible and more developers become “performance aware” maybe it causes more people to expect performance from their libraries, frameworks, and languages. Maybe some of these newly performance aware programmers are the next generation of language and library developers and it inspires one of them to create the technological solution you’re hypothesizing.
- TheMode 2y ago
  But he says that he has a large-scale systemic solution, it is literally the reason for his videos. He isn't doing it so I can get my CPU trivia, but because he believes it will result in better software. Been at it for years, and so far I don't think it's going better. My opinion is that better software will not come from CPU-aware people, but from people having enough of all the BS and switching to simpler solutions. You speak about language/libraries, what make you think it would come from those? I do believe he is smart, just unfortunate he puts his talent on the wrong path. It's not like he does not understand the impact of simplicity/working independently, as it is how he made his "fast terminal" showcase: by tying to bypass system libraries as much as possible, transforming it into a simple (or at least less theoretical) problem.
  - sarchertech 2y ago
    This is such an absolutely wild take to me. Screw those Mythbusters guys trying to explain the scientific method to people. That's not a systemic solution to fixing scientific illiteracy in the US. Sesame Street teaching kids to count? Those guys are way off the mark because it's not going to measurably improve economic performance. You'll never actually change anything just by teaching people stuff. I'm 100% certain that Casey Muratori doesn't think that his paywalled course is going convince literally every programmer to to care about performance, or to stop Facebook from building slow apps. He's trying to convince some small percentage of people that performance is something they should be thinking about when they program, and that they should understand the tradeoffs they are making when they choose to use some slow method, algorithm, library, language, or system because it provides some other benefit. When someone writes a book like "math for dummies" that says on the back cover "I think basic math is a useful skill for everyone to have, and if we all learned basic math the world would be a better place!" That's not the author stating their true belief that their book is going to literally teach the majority of the world basic math. That's an aspirational goal or in the worst case it's sales copy. Publicly calling that person out for wasting their time is really something else. Creating straw men to attack like "You will never be able to force developers worldwide to start writing everything in C/Assembly" when he explicitly states that this isn't his goal makes me think you're just looking for some reason to shit on the guy. >You speak about language/libraries, what make you think it would come from those? I have no idea when if or how a technical solution will be found.