http://www.osnews.com/story/15346/A_Few_Questions_for_Programmers Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2009, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:02:52 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com http://osnews.com/thread?148155 http://osnews.com/thread?148155 Nice to see some high-profile names take time to answer these simple questions. Having the answers side by side show some interesting contrasts between the programmers with different backgrounds.

I just wish he kept the answers in the same order as the introduction. Tue, 01 Aug 2006 19:11:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Ronald Vos) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?148197 http://osnews.com/thread?148197 Very nice, entertaining read. Liked Tim Bray's answer to what is the most important skill to a programmer: "Ability to prefer evidence to intuition". A very refreshing answer in its unromantic honesty. Tue, 01 Aug 2006 20:36:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (CharAznable) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?148227 http://osnews.com/thread?148227 Great programmers learn how to program their tools, not just use them. Steve Yegge

Kind of in the same way the batlif becomes part of the klingon. Tue, 01 Aug 2006 21:35:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (KenJackson) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?148235 http://osnews.com/thread?148235 I liked David Heinemeier Hansson's reply (to a similar question): "The ability to restate hard problems as easy ones."

As C.A.R. Hoare once said: "There are two ways of constructing a software design. One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies. And the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies." Tue, 01 Aug 2006 21:52:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (DHofmann) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?148245 http://osnews.com/thread?148245 is steve yegge really one of the "great" coders? i would call him a prolific and sometimes interesting blogger, but i do not know of an outstanding body of code that he wrote that is considered exceptional.

linus, yes, you are a great coder. thats not in dispute.

dave thomas? writer.

tim bray? standards guy. blogger.

guido - yes, also a great coder.

peter norvig - scientist. coder? not sure.

gosling - yes probably a great coder too, although hasn't seem to have done much public work lately.

david hanson? sure, although i don't think you can stand him next to linus.

i would have had on my list:

- linus
- another kernel guy, maybe from another OS
- larry wall
- guido
- audrey tang of the pugs project
- someone from mozilla
- carmak (or another video game guy)
- paul graham (blogger who actually knows a lot about code) Tue, 01 Aug 2006 22:10:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (theGrump) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?148271 http://osnews.com/thread?148271 Good article, especially the irony when Linus mentions he has "a soft spot for Andrew Tanenbaum’s „Operating Systems: Design and Implementation”". Tue, 01 Aug 2006 23:22:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (lopisaur) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?148288 http://osnews.com/thread?148288 I would have added:

- Stroustrup
- Hejlsberg

Good call on Carmak btw. Wed, 02 Aug 2006 00:03:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (jayson.knight) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?148317 http://osnews.com/thread?148317 You can add Knuth to the list for me. And Stallman, although I think his answers would just end up wrapped up in politics. Wed, 02 Aug 2006 02:07:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (tristan) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?148321 http://osnews.com/thread?148321 Alan Kay -> Smalltalk
Carl Sassenrath -> Rebol
Yukihiro Matsumoto -> Ruby Wed, 02 Aug 2006 02:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (fbrathwaite) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?148324 http://osnews.com/thread?148324 that was a great post!

now i would have to start with discrete mathematics and writing/speaking efficiently in english, aside from the IT courses i have set to learn within the coming months.

em glad to have read it. incidentally, what i learned from it would help. Wed, 02 Aug 2006 02:36:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (AkiFoblesia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?148337 http://osnews.com/thread?148337 I don't really see the irony there. That book really is an excellent operating systems text, regardless of whether or not one agrees with Tannenbaum's particular philosophy of OS design. Wed, 02 Aug 2006 04:21:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (rayiner) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?148709 http://osnews.com/thread?148709 Read this blog, it's worth it! I had some fun reading it. A must if you're bored ;-)

I enjoyed the part where Linus says Visual Basic was more important than OO Thu, 03 Aug 2006 07:40:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (rx182) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?148846 http://osnews.com/thread?148846 I liked David Heinemeier Hansson's reply (to a similar question): "The ability to restate hard problems as easy ones."

Yeah, it's easy to say that... :-) :-) Thu, 03 Aug 2006 19:33:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (rcsteiner) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?149009 http://osnews.com/thread?149009 http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2006/07/get-famous-by-not-programmi... Fri, 04 Aug 2006 04:38:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (ma_d) Comments