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Paul Graham: Hackers and Painters
larsberg writes "Another wonderful article from Paul Graham on hackers, their lifestyle, and their tools. It's entitled "Hackers and Painters", and provides a great description of how the great hackers write code. The article is definitely worth a read, especially for those who have an inkling that any field that has to place the word "Science" in its name probably isn't really a science after all."
So, he's saying Political Science isn't Science?! No wonder everyone looks at me funny when I wear a lab coat around the office...
I highly doubt Picasso, Rembrandt or Cézanne strutted around saying "H3y d00dz, ch3ck 0u7 7h3 l337 p41n71ng5 1 h4x0r3d t0g37h3r l457 n1gh7! ph34r m3!
Trolling is a art,
But computology was too cultish sounding.
Computics was overruled because it sounded too much like the future os Unix, and people didn't want to get sued for their domain names.
Programatics was taken by a musical group made up entirely of Stepford children.
Computer Engineering wasn't used because at the time engineers were all people who worked with things like buildings or cars.
Computer Science makes as much sense as metaphysics. Besides, in the begining, these folks were actually creating theories and discovering new ways to do things. And Computer Scientist sounds better than Efficiency Expert on a resume.
When you meet someone now who is writing a compiler or hacking a Unix kernel, at least you know they're not just doing it to pick up chicks.
At least he finished with a well thought out and carefully researched conclusion.
That changes my perceptions completely
"Those who cast the votes decide nothing; those who count the votes decide everything." (attrib. Joseph Stalin)
Another language trick I hate is when they stick 'arts' on something that is not artistic, like the 'Dental Arts' office down the street.
Would you like Van Gogh to work on your teeth?
love is just extroverted narcissism
A grumpy guy in blue overalls carrying a big brush, a bucket full of paint and painting a gazillion walls a day. At least that's how I feel at work. Yes, I am definitely a painter.
... whenever I first met people but I found their reply was "Oh" followed by a long pause. Now, whenever I introduce myself and have to say what I do, I tell people I'm an "artist": I take bits and bytes and create a masterpiece, or I colour-by-numbers.
Doesn't this remind you a lot of the software out there ?
Reminds me of quite a few cars too...
No, just an 029 card-punch :-)
Does this mean I should stop printing reports on canvas?
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
"Let's boycott people and not buy any DVDs!"
"New sci-fi DVD out this week, buy it!"
"All big computer companies are simply profit-oriented"
"Apple releases new thing"
"Most of the world's population are sheep driven by obvious marketing"
"Isn't this new thing cool and shiny? Buy one! Hell, buy two! Shiny shiny!"
"Microsoft does thing, isn't it evil?"
"Linux does thing, rejoicing in the streets"
...oh, and..
"Ask Slashdot: Finding your rear-end with both hands"
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Nobody would call Feynman or Dyson a geek, would they?
Have you read any of Feynman's books? That guy was an uber-geek. Any guy who would ask every girl at a party "Would you sleep with me?" based on a theory that 0.1% would say yes is pretty much a poster child for geekness. And don't get me started on his little geek-jokes in his technical writings.
Of course, being a geek doesn't make him any less a genius.