Linus Torvalds - a classic example of the love-it-or-hate-it type of person. Brilliant programmer, of course, and the father of one of the most extraordinary software projects in the world, but sometimes, he can be utterly arrogant any annoying, yet the other moment completely sensible and utterly spot-on in his statements. CBR listed the ten best Linus Torvalds quotes.
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Member since:2008-06-07
Can you be more specific what you don't like in the Linux kernel? I think you're wrong, I think Linus is a great architect, but the kernel is quite old large general low-level piece of software, and that means it can be a lot complicated. I think you're confusing ugliness from complexity and ugliness from bad design.
Member since:2006-02-15
I just took offense to the original article calling him a "Brilliant Programmer"
Well, it is an opinion and you are of course entitled to have your opinion, but IMHO he is still a brilliant programmer. He did after all start a kernel that changed the OSS scene forever, he did write Git which is now used all over the net for source code management and so forth..
I work on "his" kernel every day and it really is the biggest POS on the planet!
Explain, what exactly is wrong with Linux kernel? Just spouting "it's POS" won't make anyone listen to you.
Member since:2005-08-29
Well, it is an opinion and you are of course entitled to have your opinion, but IMHO he is still a brilliant programmer. He did after all start a kernel that changed the OSS scene forever, he did write Git which is now used all over the net for source code management and so forth..
You raised a question I like to ask. Are you giving him credit to what you see in the current kernel we use, or the ideology or methodology he used (or both?)? I ask because I wonder how much of the code in there is written by him, and how much is written by others who deserve credit too (maybe less, maybe more)
Edit: Because I see many others saying the exact thing about Bill Gates as an example, when, IMHO, he's more of a business man than a programmer and many others deserve the credit he is taking.
Edited 2008-06-07 11:13 UTC
Member since:2008-04-08
Well, it is an opinion and you are of course entitled to have your opinion, but IMHO he is still a brilliant programmer. He did after all start a kernel that changed the OSS scene forever, he did write Git which is now used all over the net for source code management and so forth..
I work on "his" kernel every day and it really is the biggest POS on the planet!
Explain, what exactly is wrong with Linux kernel? Just spouting "it's POS" won't make anyone listen to you.
Starting an kernel does not a "brilliant programmer" make!
Like has been stated by others on this list, he is a figurehead, a mascot, someone to focus attention on! I doubt he writes 1/1000th of the code in the current kernel.
Git!?!?!? ... GMAFB!
Interrupts and memory! Two of the biggest cluster fracks in the kernel!
The one _very_ smart thing he has done lately is to keep GPLv3 out of the kernel. That would have sunk the linux barge in a hurry!
Krreagan
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:
2008-04-08
I just took offense to the original article calling him a "Brilliant Programmer" I work on "his" kernel every day and it really is the biggest POS on the planet! You can massage anything enough it will work! It's defiantly not pretty.
You are correct in that he was in the right place at the right time... and now we are stuck with it!
Again proof that politics is more important then technical merit!
Krreagan