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by dozzie 3326 days ago
Why my programming languages are smarter than whatever dumb writer that knows nothing about my toolset and my needs is at hand with his trivial cliches.
4 comments

> whatever dumb writer that knows nothing about my toolset

I consider Steve Yegge to be one of the smartest writers I've ever read on the subject of programming. You might disagree, but I would recommend looking for his previous writing (which I'm not sure is still available). You may find he has a better understanding of your toolset than you presume.

Or possibly not. I personally miss his rants.

http://steve-yegge.blogspot.co.uk/2006/03/execution-in-kingd...

This made me hate Java before I knew enough to know why. It's joyful writing. I'd love to run it past a non-coder just to see if it's enjoyable in and of itself. I suspect it would be to someone with an ounce of patience.

He writes entertainingly (and clearly has a talent for the written word) but I'm not convinced he's got any genuine insight into programming. Put another way: he seems to be just as convincing when he's wrong as he is when he's right.
>whatever dumb writer

You're new to this HN thing? Steve Yegge is kind well known around this here parts...

Also you seem to be responding to the (meant as joke) title, not TFA.

> You're new to this HN thing?

No, not really.

> Steve Yegge is kind well known around this here parts...

Well, I haven't noticed.

> Also you seem to be responding to the (meant as joke) title, not TFA.

Actually, to TFA as well. His arguments are trivial generics without much substance. Such articles irritate me greatly.

> Well, I haven't noticed.

Don't feel bad, Sergey Brin also thought he was annoying at one point in time.

Personally I think it's cool that he's well known enough to annoy Sergey Brin but that's just me.

>Actually, to TFA as well. His arguments are trivial generics without much substance. Such articles irritate me greatly.

Well, it is a personal blog post and this post in particular is meant to convey personal preference (as evident by the whole semi-autobiography about his game app). The title was probably jokingly chosen to be generic on purpose (the post alludes to that in the fist paragraph).

> articles

Ah, see, a Yegge blog post isn't an article, it's an essential touchstone of the computer geek experience. You don't get persuaded by his arguments, but instead… delighted, filled with whimsy, and joy?

sarcasm off, his posts also fall south of my reading:substance ratio

Did you read the first line of the post?
Please read the article.

Also, I don't believe Steve Yegge is dumb...