These numbers are way too low. I'd have to have gone to 94 people's houses and made them sandwiches. (I already explained the meaning of life in a footnote in "Great Hackers.")
[3] I think this is what people mean when they talk about the "meaning of life." On the face of it, this seems an odd idea. Life isn't an expression; how could it have meaning? But it can have a quality that feels a lot like meaning. In a project like a compiler, you have to solve a lot of problems, but the problems all fall into a pattern, as in a signal. Whereas when the problems you have to solve are random, they seem like noise.
It's pretty easy to say what kinds of problems are not interesting: those where instead of solving a few big, clear, problems, you have to solve a lot of nasty little ones. One of the worst kinds of projects is writing an interface to a piece of software that's full of bugs. Another is when you have to customize something for an individual client's complex and ill-defined needs. To hackers these kinds of projects are the death of a thousand cuts.
The distinguishing feature of nasty little problems is that you don't learn anything from them. Writing a compiler is interesting because it teaches you what a compiler is. But writing an interface to a buggy piece of software doesn't teach you anything, because the bugs are random. [3]
But, let me tell you, it's a _great_fucking_sandwich. It was actually so good, I'm going to register a new username: MORE_SANDWICH and climb the karma ladder again, just so PG makes me another sandwich. I need one... more.... taste...
Comments
These numbers are way too low. I'd have to have gone to 94 people's houses and made them sandwiches. (I already explained the meaning of life in a footnote in "Great Hackers.")
[3] I think this is what people mean when they talk about the "meaning of life." On the face of it, this seems an odd idea. Life isn't an expression; how could it have meaning? But it can have a quality that feels a lot like meaning. In a project like a compiler, you have to solve a lot of problems, but the problems all fall into a pattern, as in a signal. Whereas when the problems you have to solve are random, they seem like noise.
http://www.paulgraham.com/gh.html
The text linked to the footnote:
Nasty Little Problems
It's pretty easy to say what kinds of problems are not interesting: those where instead of solving a few big, clear, problems, you have to solve a lot of nasty little ones. One of the worst kinds of projects is writing an interface to a piece of software that's full of bugs. Another is when you have to customize something for an individual client's complex and ill-defined needs. To hackers these kinds of projects are the death of a thousand cuts.
The distinguishing feature of nasty little problems is that you don't learn anything from them. Writing a compiler is interesting because it teaches you what a compiler is. But writing an interface to a buggy piece of software doesn't teach you anything, because the bugs are random. [3]
Hmmm... I'm getting close to my 2000... Can I request a chicken sandwich with my zen awakening?
Rumor has it that at 20,000 karma you get to know nickb's true identity.
Nah - you've got it the wrong way round... You can only reach 20,000 by knowing the true nature of nickb.
But, let me tell you, it's a _great_fucking_sandwich. It was actually so good, I'm going to register a new username: MORE_SANDWICH and climb the karma ladder again, just so PG makes me another sandwich. I need one... more.... taste...
sudo make me a sandwich :-)
gaius is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.
But I am tho´, 2359 at the moment :-)