[thoughtFrame]

I've been thinking a lot lately about those two examples related to experience in programming, domain knowledge and producing good work. Jon had written 12 compilers by the time he got to Jai, and many more games before his Sokoban, and he started making games as a contemporary to Abrash, in an era where you had to really learn what was going on to produce something good. That knowledge from constrained environments adapted really well to the increasing power of computers (both in terms of processing power and ergonomics), whereas coming at it from a modern programmer's POV you can get away with very little in terms of know-how (which is both good and bad)

I'm working on trying to reach their level (it is reachable) but I sometimes feel like I started with a handicap of comfort from modern OSs and tools