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What is it that would make John Carmack an elite programmer, though? I'm not saying he is or isn't, I just don't know what he did that well. I think I remember

by ufmace 12y ago

What is it that would make John Carmack an elite programmer, though? I'm not saying he is or isn't, I just don't know what he did that well. I think I remember reading one source claiming that his real gift was being able to develop graphics engines at just the right level of sophistication to just barely run well on the latest desktop computers that would be available when the engine was ready, even though the development project was started years before. If that's his main talent, it's definitely a gift, but does it make him an elite developer? Or is he more of an elite marketer/market analyst?

coldtea 12y ago
>but does it make him an elite developer? Or is he more of an elite marketer/market analyst? The part were he also CREATED those engines (instead of just predicting the arrival or relevant desktop systems capable of running them) makes him a developer, not a marketer/analyst. It also seems you didn't fully realize what you quoted. Being able to "develop graphics engines at just the right level of sophistication to just barely run well on the latest desktop computers that would be available when the engine was ready" means that he could program at the cutting edge of what's possible for the available desktop hardware everytime... Not many people can do that, and do it consistently and well, and in a field as difficult as 3D games (most of us people on HN for comparison, Rails/JS guys etc, are glorified CRUD developers).
- ufmace 12y ago
  I realize that his engine development abilities alone qualify him as an excellent developer, probably at least top 1% of all developers. What I think the article is talking about is the true handful-in-a-generation elite, who are quantifiably orders of magnitude better than the top 1%, and have the money and fame to go along with it. Are his development abilities alone that much better than even the average top 1% developer, or is it more other things to go along with that? Or maybe it's more accurate to say that you can't really separate pure development skill from being able to develop the right program for the right market at the right time. Take Mark Zuckerberg for example. He's probably a really good developer, but he didn't become a famous billionaire on development skill alone. He is where he is because he had the right idea at the right time, and executed it aggressively and intelligently. Is that a separate skill from pure development, or is it part of being an elite developer?

by ufmace 12y ago

coldtea 12y ago

>but does it make him an elite developer? Or is he more of an elite marketer/market analyst? The part were he also CREATED those engines (instead of just predicting the arrival or relevant desktop systems capable of running them) makes him a developer, not a marketer/analyst. It also seems you didn't fully realize what you quoted. Being able to "develop graphics engines at just the right level of sophistication to just barely run well on the latest desktop computers that would be available when the engine was ready" means that he could program at the cutting edge of what's possible for the available desktop hardware everytime... Not many people can do that, and do it consistently and well, and in a field as difficult as 3D games (most of us people on HN for comparison, Rails/JS guys etc, are glorified CRUD developers).

ufmace 12y ago
I realize that his engine development abilities alone qualify him as an excellent developer, probably at least top 1% of all developers. What I think the article is talking about is the true handful-in-a-generation elite, who are quantifiably orders of magnitude better than the top 1%, and have the money and fame to go along with it. Are his development abilities alone that much better than even the average top 1% developer, or is it more other things to go along with that? Or maybe it's more accurate to say that you can't really separate pure development skill from being able to develop the right program for the right market at the right time. Take Mark Zuckerberg for example. He's probably a really good developer, but he didn't become a famous billionaire on development skill alone. He is where he is because he had the right idea at the right time, and executed it aggressively and intelligently. Is that a separate skill from pure development, or is it part of being an elite developer?