This is way more coherent than Hentenaar's screed; thanks for posting it, I've always had a hard time understanding the points articulated against LCTHW. I thi

This is way more coherent than Hentenaar's screed; thanks for posting it, I've always had a hard time understanding the points articulated against LCTHW. I think all of the points you've mentioned are correct - Zed's said some stuff that isn't to-the-letter accurate. I guess the reason people get up in arms (wrongly, IMO) about pointing these things out is the worry that these details he got wrong will obscure the bigger picture of his work. I think it's a pretty silly thing to freak out about; Zed's taken a programming language that's frequently seen as daunting and difficult to learn and made it fairly accessible for a new/newish programmer. So what if he missed or misinterpreted a few finer points? I guess that's why Zed Shaw comment threads end in flame wars on HN - half of the people are pissed at what they view as attempts to besmirch their teacher, and the other half are watching the first half get up in arms about what's essentially a code review and thinking "Jesus, you must be shitty programmers because of how personally you're taking this". Just my opinion. Mileage may vary. :)