Laziness, Impatience, and Hubris

larrywallLaziness, impatience, and hubris: the three qualities that make a programmer. If you are lazy you look for shortcuts. If you are impatient you want your program to be done now. And as for the hubris, that makes the programs easier to distribute. […] We use natural language—most people think COBOL—and that’s not how we think about it. Rather, the principles of natural language are that everything is context sensitive and there is more than one way to say it. You are free to learn it as you go. […] We don’t expect a five-year-old to speak with the same diction as a 50 year-old. The language is built to evolve over time by the participation of the whole community. Natural languages use inflection and pauses and tone to carry meanings. These carry over to punctuation in written language, so we’re not afraid to use punctuation either. […] Do you have a release date for this yet? […] Sure, It’s Christmas Day—we just don’t say which one. […] We’re certainly well into the second 80 percent. (Larry Wall) [The A-Z of Programming Languages: Perl]

State a good design principle and people mock you. Look for example at a snippet form The Reg:
Larry said: “Similar things should look similar but similar things should also look different, and how you trade those things off is an interesting design principle.” It’s very Zen, but this is standard issue for Perl developers: the way you understand a Perl program depends on how you read it. Those seeking the path to enlightenment should probably start with Perl 6 interpreters. (Ted Dziuba) [Larry Wall on the Zen of Perl 6]

I have to wonder if Ted Dziuba lacks the intelligence and/or relevant experience, or if he tries to insult my relevant experience.


  1. karthik says:

    this is really interesting

  2. Mikha says:

    I find your recollection of this event rahetr interesting, as it shows how different incidents in the lives of many are so interrelated in terms of the lessons that they teach. I also have felt a similar disappointment through my experience of being a tennis player. Effort really does matter, and hard work and dedication will truly help you in these next four years. The end result of a job well done is always rewarding, and the pride that one feels perhaps cannot be paralleled at that very moment. I am glad this event helped you to mend your ways and rethink your approach towards completing a task, it will surely come in handy. Trust me.

Leave a Reply