[tylerchurch]

> I think he just liked to hear himself orate.

I think his strategy had exactly the intended effect. If you had a real problem that required deep expertise, you knew to come to him.

If you didn't, you figured it out yourself, and thus grew your skills rather than having him feed you the answer.

[ghostpepper]

If his goal was to be left alone entirely and never help anyone then it was certainly effective. I never went to him with problems that required deep expertise because they involved a recitation of how memory was allocated, or how linking works, or what an HTTP request is.. etc