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Programmers At Work, 22 Years Later

Posted by kdawson on from the still-crazy-after-all-these-years dept.

Firebones writes "In 1986, the book Programmers at Work presented interviews with 19 programmers and software designers from the early days of personal computing including Charles Simonyi, Andy Hertzfeld, Ray Ozzie, Bill Gates, and Pac Man programmer Toru Iwatani. Leonard Richardson tracked down these pioneers and has compiled a nice summary of where they are now, 22 years later."

4 of 136 comments (clear)

  1. Informative by peipas · · Score: 5, Funny

    I've always wondered whatever happened to Bill Gates.

  2. Exploiter "of" - sorry.... by Finallyjoined!!! · · Score: 5, Funny

    Damn microsoft keyboard....

    --
    If I had an Ass, I'd call it Fanny Bottom, then I could slap my Ass; Fanny Bottom, on the Arse.
  3. Horrible, Isn't It? by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dude, you're like three years out of college at best. I know, I know, don't rub it in. Put me in the ground already, right? I feel like my bones are half dust, I'm long in the tooth, I'm on my last leg, almost completely worthless, put me out to pasture, stick a fork in me!

    Three years! In (Moore's) computer years that's like 18 generations, prior to the great depression of dotcoms or even the Civil (browser) War.

    It's amazing that some employer is kind enough to provide this old geriatric coder a job. I try to stay out of the way of the new blood and stave off death for a few more years but my old concepts of "EJBs" and "Java Server Faces" is just embarrassing to them.

    A new recruit came in the other day, I told him not to feel bad and we'd make him 1337 soon enough. He just chuckled and patted me on the head and said, "There there, old timer, we'll get you some streaming Matlock off the server while we clean up your mess."

    I miss my friends that have already moved on from this life to the next, those that are managers already. I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up DOES rejoice. Still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they're gone. I guess I just miss my friends.

    So please, when you see an ancient dinosaur like me lumbering around trying to figure out what the f*ck ruby is and why I have to put it on rails and then wonder how that was any different than what I used to be doing, please be kind. Have patience, my mind isn't as nimble as it once was. Three years of Jack Daniels and coding ravages a man and leaves him a dusty shell.

    Just promise me you'll never forget me when I'm put in the basement next to a pile of boxes next month. Please come visit, please!
    --
    My work here is dung.
  4. Do Not Go Gentle Into That Cold Dark Server Room by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Funny

    I have some C to write. While we may have had our differences in the past, what with my resource greedy garbage collector and your platform specific releases, it is becoming increasingly clear to me that one day you and I might end up in the same place--management.

    So while we may not be able to reconcile our differences now, I realize that at the end of the day we might find ourselves in the same spot of alienation and place of decay.

    In a different reality, I might have called you friend ...
    --
    My work here is dung.