Things an architect should know • Hacker News Board

Re: Things an architect should know

#11

Post by monadgonad » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 12:45 PM UTC

ry_ry wrote: post #3

anoncoward111 wrote: post #2

Is this meant to be art? Why should an architect know Shakespeare and QWERTY? Should a welder know about quarks and neutrinos?

Its clearly not a practical guide. It was also posted 16 hours ago and sunk without trace, presumably because nobody wanted to say 'this is stupid' incase it was genius and they appeared thick. It is pretty stupid.

I'm glad it was reposted, because I found it intriguing and inspiring for the reasons mentioned in the current top comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18282678

It may not be _genius_, but I don't think it's stupid, and especially not because it's an artistic rather than practical guide.

Re: Things an architect should know

#12

Post by bookofjoe » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 12:51 PM UTC

ry_ry wrote: post #3

anoncoward111 wrote: post #2

Is this meant to be art? Why should an architect know Shakespeare and QWERTY? Should a welder know about quarks and neutrinos?

Its clearly not a practical guide. It was also posted 16 hours ago and sunk without trace, presumably because nobody wanted to say 'this is stupid' incase it was genius and they appeared thick. It is pretty stupid.

>It was also posted 16 hours ago and sunk without trace OT you touch on something that's always puzzled me about HN, namely often something I posted days ago — that quickly disappeared into the ether — suddenly appears on the leaderboard posted by someone else with hundreds of points and comments. I just chalk it up to my bad karma.

Re: Things an architect should know

#13

Post by mcherm » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 1:00 PM UTC

I'm not an architect (well, technically my job title is "Architect", but I'm not that kind of architect). But I'd be curious to see a list like this for some other professions, just because it tickles my curiosity.

Re: Things an architect should know

#14

Post by Ptyx » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 1:01 PM UTC

anoncoward111 wrote: post #2

Is this meant to be art? Why should an architect know Shakespeare and QWERTY? Should a welder know about quarks and neutrinos?

There's a lot of architecture in Shakespeare. The non-Aristotelian structure of his plays, the highly stylized language, the iambic pentameter, the stage directions. You could endlessly examine the structural characteristics of his works.

The list obviously plays with leaving things vague, ambiguous, uncertain. It's funny how this seems to enrage certain people.

Re: Things an architect should know

#15

Post by ry_ry » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 1:01 PM UTC

monadgonad wrote: post #11

ry_ry wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its clearly not a practical guide. It was also posted 16 hours ago and sunk without trace, presumably because nobody wanted to say 'this is stupid' incase it was genius and they appeared thick. It is pretty stupid.

I'm glad it was reposted, because I found it intriguing and inspiring for the reasons mentioned in the current top comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18282678 It may not be _genius_, but I don't think it's stupid, and especially not because it's an artistic rather than practical guide.

I dunno, if feels like an invitation to attach contextual meaning to a selection of random phrases.

You could present this as a list of things ${profession} should know, and somebody somewhere would find it a refreshing thought experiment.

I would question if those mental gymnastics reflect on the source, or on the individual who created the meaning?

Without context its just a list of stuff with indeterminate intent - any artistry is the result of the reader willing it into existence.

Re: Things an architect should know

#16

Post by sudhirj » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 1:09 PM UTC

voltooid wrote: post #10

anoncoward111 wrote: post #2

Is this meant to be art? Why should an architect know Shakespeare and QWERTY? Should a welder know about quarks and neutrinos?

> Why should an architect know Shakespeare and QWERTY? Well why not? QWERTY could refer to just being able to type. An artist could possibly do well to be able to use a computer? It could also refer to the placement on old style typewriters where the type bars could get jammed if letters used often in the English language were typed in quick succession. (Myth maybe? But interesting to think about anyway for someone t…

The placement of keys in such s way that they had a low probability of jamming (whether effective or not) has heavy parallels in designing building entries and exits, planning emergency exit capacity etc. Basically if you’re planning an exit also consider human usage statistics of the connected rooms.

Re: Things an architect should know

#17

Post by dudul » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 1:16 PM UTC

"How the pyramids were built"? Don't we get a monthly article on Yahoo about the latest guy who claims to have cracked the mystery? :)

Re: Things an architect should know

#18

Post by bookofjoe » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 1:17 PM UTC

mcherm wrote: post #13

I'm not an architect (well, technically my job title is "Architect", but I'm not that kind of architect). But I'd be curious to see a list like this for some other professions, just because it tickles my curiosity.

I'm tempted to create one for anesthesiologists (I'm a retired [38 years of practice] neurosurgical anesthesiologist — I certainly have the time! But I'm too lazy.

Re: Things an architect should know

#19

Post by falcolas » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 1:18 PM UTC

anoncoward111 wrote: post #2

Is this meant to be art? Why should an architect know Shakespeare and QWERTY? Should a welder know about quarks and neutrinos?

I take it as a bit of a meta piece about how the knowledge of an individual in an industry should never be limited to only that industry.

As computer programmers, this is perhaps even more important (since we're rarely writing programs for the sake of writing programs), but it's valuable to every industry to have a well rounded and well educated individual.

More specifically, a welder who learns about quarks and neutrinos shows curiosity beyond "an electrical arc creates heat and melts metal", a trait present in individuals who strive to better themselves and their craft.

Re: Things an architect should know

#20

Post by V-2 » Tue, Oct 23, 2018, 1:20 PM UTC

sudhirj wrote: post #16

voltooid wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why should an architect know Shakespeare and QWERTY? Well why not? QWERTY could refer to just being able to type. An artist could possibly do well to be able to use a computer? It could also refer to the placement on old style typewriters where the type bars could get jammed if letters used often in the English language were typed in quick succession. (Myth maybe? But interesting to think about anyway for someone t…

The placement of keys in such s way that they had a low probability of jamming (whether effective or not) has heavy parallels in designing building entries and exits, planning emergency exit capacity etc. Basically if you’re planning an exit also consider human usage statistics of the connected rooms.

> The placement of keys in such s way that they had a low probability of jammin

It's highly debatable, and arguably a myth. The QWERTY design predated any potential jamming problems. Perhaps it was so foreseeing? It's really hard to believe general ergonomy was the top priority, as all the characters of the word TYPEWRITER are placed in the top row, which could have hardly happened by sheer coincidence, but was very convenient for the sake of sale presentations in the early years...