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Interesting take on it, similar in some regards to what Nolan did at the end of The Dark Knight Rises. _why is essentially a symbol of the ruby community, anyon
by nicholassmith 14y ago
Interesting take on it, similar in some regards to what Nolan did at the end of The Dark Knight Rises. _why is essentially a symbol of the ruby community, anyone can be _why, is it important who's underneath the mask? For some people yes, there's a mystery to be solved, for others it's enough that they're there doing what they're doing, and by adopting the mask they obviously want to remain behind it.
I'm on the fence, mostly as I came to ruby and RoR long after the _why era, but I get why someone might value their privacy and remain hidden whilst working in public.
- steveklabnik 14y agoI think it's important only in that Subject was the best ever _why, and the one who created the concept. I also do not want someone to literally pick up the name and 'adopt the mask.' I mean that if we want to truly understand his work, we should keep that joy alive, and occasionally have a moment of becoming-_why. But just a moment. I do not think that it's often appropriate; I maintain quite a bit of _why's code these days, and we've had to throw much of it out straight-away. Creative, artsy C code doesn't do much for maintainability, even though it was the genesis of many great ideas.
- nicholassmith 14y agoOh I know, that's why I said similarities rather than out and out. More as in _why was important as a symbol to the community because anyone can be _why, and anyone can contribute that joy and momentum to the community. Does it matter who the man was? Or is? Or could be? He was just a guy at the end of the day, and we can all essentially be him for a while.
- fogus 14y ago> anyone can be _why Except when they try they're not very interesting; unlike `Subject`.