[ridv]

Really awesome seeing someone talk about skateboarding here on HN as it relates to the subjects covered by Knuth in this article. I grew up skateboarding and I credit the years those years with a huge amount of learning I didn't even know I was doing.

To expand upon what you said: it's amazing when you take that trick, a kickflip for example, and you're so confident in your consistency, that you apply it to something new. Kickflip to rock to fakie, kickflip down a set of stairs, kickflip to 50-50, and so on. The consistency you gain from that trick opens up the door to a whole new world of combinations.

There's so much about skateboarding, the culture (or counter culture in some cases) around it that translate so well to programming/hacking (and life in general). The trials of learning something new. The acceptance and overcoming of failure. The respect you shown and earned when you're at the park and you or someone else puts down a sick trick.

One of my favorite creative minds in skateboarding, Rodney Mullen, talks a bit about the relationship between hacking and skateboarding in his TED talk. [1]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GVO-MfIl1Q&t=683