8 ms·

The output of this guy is simply staggering. I would love to know more about him, and I'm sure he'd hate that. Like Bill Watterson.

_giu 17y ago
yeah, _why is a mistic (and pretty smart) individual. he's also a cool guy. I enjoyed watching the speech he gave at the ART && CODE Symposium: http://www.vimeo.com/5047563 http://www.vimeo.com/5047563 . oh, and thanks to raju for submitting the link; I last checked hackety.org about two weeks ago and it was down then. it's nice to see that hackety.org is up and running again.
iamwil 17y ago
Part of the reason is that he keeps his projects limited in scope and simple. If his github repo is any indication, he only works on one or two things at a given time and is able to complete them (due to limited scope). Because he doesn't take himself seriously, no one is harping on him to say that "we need this or that, because we need it for ENTERPRISE!" So he's able to keep it simple, get it done, move on, and learn something in the process. As for how he supports himself and is able to make the time to code is a mystery to me. http://github.com/why/potion/graphs/punch_card http://github.com/why/potion/graphs/punch_card Looking at his commit patterns, it's throughout the days of the week, even though the bulk of it is at night. But it's reassuring to see that even _why stops for dinner, and the reason why the rest of us aren't as productive is because we're not as consistently hacking away as he is. As for knowing more about him, I'd say you'd probably learn more about him reading his code than digging up things like his real name.
- webology 17y ago
  I have no idea what why does for a living but apparently not having a day job or at least having a flexible enough schedule that allows one to write code for fun helps. The punch card view is one of the best visualizations I've seen yet.
- jobeirne 17y ago
  He never completed Hackety Hack.
  - misuba 17y ago
    That's "has not yet completed." There've been a couple new versions fairly recently.
- tdavis 17y ago
  Because he doesn't take himself seriously, no one is harping... I watched his talk at ART && CODE (http://www.vimeo.com/5047563 http://www.vimeo.com/5047563) and it was full of some awesome jokes at his expense. I think self-deprecation is the best of character traits. I am curious what he does for money, though. My ultimate goal is to have enough in the bank to solely hack on open source stuff for the remainder of my career.
fiaz 17y ago
Yeah, him and Zed Shaw. But their personalities seem to be on opposite poles.
- anovaskulk 17y ago
  how's so?
  - teej 17y ago
    _why is silly and fun, Zed is analytical and blunt.
    - deleted 17y ago
      [deleted]
    - deleted 17y ago
      [deleted]
    - knowtheory 17y ago
      Zed's writing can be analytical and blunt. If you've ever seen him give a presentation he's just as ridiculous and entertaining as _why can be.
blasdel 17y ago
We don't even know his name! That nobody's outed him is a testament to his greatness.
- misuba 17y ago
  His first name's Michael. He's not that secretive.
  - blasdel 17y ago
    I think I was happier not knowing :/ It's not secrecy as much as it's mystery
  - technoweenie 17y ago
    Even wikipedia doesn't know!

_giu 17y ago

yeah, _why is a mistic (and pretty smart) individual. he's also a cool guy. I enjoyed watching the speech he gave at the ART && CODE Symposium: http://www.vimeo.com/5047563 http://www.vimeo.com/5047563 . oh, and thanks to raju for submitting the link; I last checked hackety.org about two weeks ago and it was down then. it's nice to see that hackety.org is up and running again.

iamwil 17y ago

Part of the reason is that he keeps his projects limited in scope and simple. If his github repo is any indication, he only works on one or two things at a given time and is able to complete them (due to limited scope). Because he doesn't take himself seriously, no one is harping on him to say that "we need this or that, because we need it for ENTERPRISE!" So he's able to keep it simple, get it done, move on, and learn something in the process. As for how he supports himself and is able to make the time to code is a mystery to me. http://github.com/why/potion/graphs/punch_card http://github.com/why/potion/graphs/punch_card Looking at his commit patterns, it's throughout the days of the week, even though the bulk of it is at night. But it's reassuring to see that even _why stops for dinner, and the reason why the rest of us aren't as productive is because we're not as consistently hacking away as he is. As for knowing more about him, I'd say you'd probably learn more about him reading his code than digging up things like his real name.

webology 17y ago
I have no idea what why does for a living but apparently not having a day job or at least having a flexible enough schedule that allows one to write code for fun helps. The punch card view is one of the best visualizations I've seen yet.
jobeirne 17y ago
He never completed Hackety Hack.
- misuba 17y ago
  That's "has not yet completed." There've been a couple new versions fairly recently.
tdavis 17y ago
Because he doesn't take himself seriously, no one is harping... I watched his talk at ART && CODE (http://www.vimeo.com/5047563 http://www.vimeo.com/5047563) and it was full of some awesome jokes at his expense. I think self-deprecation is the best of character traits. I am curious what he does for money, though. My ultimate goal is to have enough in the bank to solely hack on open source stuff for the remainder of my career.

fiaz 17y ago

Yeah, him and Zed Shaw. But their personalities seem to be on opposite poles.

anovaskulk 17y ago
how's so?
- teej 17y ago
  _why is silly and fun, Zed is analytical and blunt.
  - deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
  - knowtheory 17y ago
    Zed's writing can be analytical and blunt. If you've ever seen him give a presentation he's just as ridiculous and entertaining as _why can be.

blasdel 17y ago

We don't even know his name! That nobody's outed him is a testament to his greatness.

misuba 17y ago
His first name's Michael. He's not that secretive.
- blasdel 17y ago
  I think I was happier not knowing :/ It's not secrecy as much as it's mystery
- technoweenie 17y ago
  Even wikipedia doesn't know!