[ibdknox]

Depends on your definition of genius, but I definitely agree that these folks don't quite hold up the sentiment that "anyone can do it." I would put Martin Thompson, Raph Levien, and Jonathan Blow at least in the top 0.1% of programmers.

They are great examples for his overall point though. It probably would've been better just to leave out the genius bit and talk about them as folks proving it can be done.

[roddux]

You should add the late Terry Davis to your list, or if that area interests you, read up on his work: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TempleOS

[ibdknox]

Yeah, there are many others I'd add to a more general list - Carmack, Bellard, Wirth, the folks from Our Machinery, etc. I was just referencing the people specifically mentioned in the original post.