Sometimes I find it hard to believe that such a cheerful character has ended up being so polarizing. People both lionize and demonize this guy, and neither one is fair. _Why is not the greatest genius who ever lived, but he inspired a lot of people to get into programming, is a very witty and creative person, and a pretty damn good hacker as well. I could think of far worse people to honor.
1. He was so whimsical. Some people just can't cope with whimsy. To them, the world is a serious place for serious business (like programming). Others wanted to dance to his tune, and were glad to join the parade, but wanted someone out else front. _why was a great drum major.
2. When he took down his repos without any warning, the serious people felt as though _why had breached some kind of un-written contract, and the parade folks felt like the children of divorcees: abandoned, and wondering if somehow it was their fault.
When emotions get involved, you get the polarization. Simple as that. Whatever else you say about the guy, he was a great storyteller.
>2. When he took down his repos without any warning, the serious people felt as though _why had breached some kind of un-written contract, and the parade folks felt like the children of divorcees: abandoned, and wondering if somehow it was their fault.
I think he knew that they were in git, so nothing would really be lost.
While this is mostly true, not everything of his was in git. I would give almost anything to have a copy of the source code for hackety.org, for example. I had to reverse-engineer the calls Hackety Hack was making to the site.
The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. I think a lot of people really loved _why, but were hurt that he left and by the way he left. So hating the guy is a lot closer to caring than you might think.
_why gave Rubyists permission to have fun, make messes, and not take yourself seriously. Thanks _why for inspiring me to Try Ruby. I'm teaching my 8 year old son some Ruby today in your honor.
Comments
Sometimes I find it hard to believe that such a cheerful character has ended up being so polarizing. People both lionize and demonize this guy, and neither one is fair. _Why is not the greatest genius who ever lived, but he inspired a lot of people to get into programming, is a very witty and creative person, and a pretty damn good hacker as well. I could think of far worse people to honor.
I think he's polarizing for two reasons:
1. He was so whimsical. Some people just can't cope with whimsy. To them, the world is a serious place for serious business (like programming). Others wanted to dance to his tune, and were glad to join the parade, but wanted someone out else front. _why was a great drum major.
2. When he took down his repos without any warning, the serious people felt as though _why had breached some kind of un-written contract, and the parade folks felt like the children of divorcees: abandoned, and wondering if somehow it was their fault.
When emotions get involved, you get the polarization. Simple as that. Whatever else you say about the guy, he was a great storyteller.
>2. When he took down his repos without any warning, the serious people felt as though _why had breached some kind of un-written contract, and the parade folks felt like the children of divorcees: abandoned, and wondering if somehow it was their fault.
I think he knew that they were in git, so nothing would really be lost.
While this is mostly true, not everything of his was in git. I would give almost anything to have a copy of the source code for hackety.org, for example. I had to reverse-engineer the calls Hackety Hack was making to the site.
The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. I think a lot of people really loved _why, but were hurt that he left and by the way he left. So hating the guy is a lot closer to caring than you might think.
_why gave Rubyists permission to have fun, make messes, and not take yourself seriously. Thanks _why for inspiring me to Try Ruby. I'm teaching my 8 year old son some Ruby today in your honor.