[TheTarquin]

It's largely been my experience. The best programmers and the best hackers I know are all more passionate about what they're DOING with code rather than the minutiae of code itself.

Which isn't to say they aren't interested in technique. After all, carpenters still like to geek out over tools once in awhile . . .

[andrewcooke]

curious - does the distinction between cabinet makers and carpenters not exist any more? only the former were considered craftsmen by my grandfather.

[TheTarquin]

What was the distinction there? As far as I understand things, "cabinet maker" would be a proper subset of "carpenter".

[andrewcooke]

as far as i understood things, a cabinetmaker made "fine" things like, well, cabinets, tables, chairs, while a carpenter made things for construction, like window frames, or flooring.

[edit: well, wikipedia has a whole pile of different things listed under carpentry, so perhaps i remember wrong, or this was a local thing (my grandfather was an odd-job man in leeds, uk)]

[edit2: ah, perhaps the distinction was between carpenters and joiners, which is explained here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joiner - and is a uk-only thing. certainly "joiner" is a word i remember, but that you don't hear any more...]

[TheTarquin]

Interesting! I did not know that. Thanks for the explanation and link.