still, i think hipsters are wannabes, and clothes don't make the man
[deleted]
My fellow geeks, we need to have a talk.
21–30 of 249 posts
Re: My fellow geeks, we need to have a talk.
#22It's true. I don't know how many times I've watched eager hackers get lambasted for "reinventing the wheel," or "don't bother doing it yourself, you'll just screw it up -- someone has probably done it already and did it better than you could." This happens most often at the intersection of technology and entrepreneurship. The business advice is that it's cheaper to buy it than build it. The engineer's perspective is…
There is reinventing the wheel and reinventing the wheel.
It's cute when a person, learning as she goes, comes up with something that's been already invented. Only goes to show she understands the field. [1]
It's unbelievably irritating when something that was widely implemented 10 or 20 or 30 years ago (and then even improved significantly) is now asserted as the next big thing. C'mon, be serious -_-' [2]
[1] a nice guy thinks of swap (in userspace) just to hold strings of arbitrary length, calls it ``backed by file storage'': http://9fans.net/archive/2011/02/94
[2] no example I can think of ATM; but perhaps the above one could fit?
Re: My fellow geeks, we need to have a talk.
#23Agreed. Next time I shall condescendingly refer people to this post with one eyebrow raised if I hear any of those 'lines'.
My sarcasm detector is beeping, but very faintly. If you are being serious, wouldn't it kindof defeat the purpose to be condescending towards people spouting that stuff?
Re: My fellow geeks, we need to have a talk.
#24Re: My fellow geeks, we need to have a talk.
#25I would direct anyone who thinks geeks are harsh now to read chapter 10 of "Dealers of Lightning," about the early days of Xerox PARC. They had a weekly meeting called DEALER, where the boffins would present their ideas to the group at large. A quote: "But the argument had best be carefully thought out. Anyone trying to slip an unsound concept past this group was sure to be stopped short by an explosive "Bullshit!" f…
Did they begin every sentence with "Silence!" as well?
Re: My fellow geeks, we need to have a talk.
#26It's true. I don't know how many times I've watched eager hackers get lambasted for "reinventing the wheel," or "don't bother doing it yourself, you'll just screw it up -- someone has probably done it already and did it better than you could." This happens most often at the intersection of technology and entrepreneurship. The business advice is that it's cheaper to buy it than build it. The engineer's perspective is…
There is reinventing the wheel and reinventing the wheel. It's cute when a person, learning as she goes, comes up with something that's been already invented. Only goes to show she understands the field. [1] It's unbelievably irritating when something that was widely implemented 10 or 20 or 30 years ago (and then even improved significantly) is now asserted as the next big thing. C'mon, be serious -_-' [2] [1] a nice…
For [2], I'd normally suggest the thin client... except that it's got enough momentum that it may actually be the next big thing.
Re: My fellow geeks, we need to have a talk.
#27It's true. I don't know how many times I've watched eager hackers get lambasted for "reinventing the wheel," or "don't bother doing it yourself, you'll just screw it up -- someone has probably done it already and did it better than you could." This happens most often at the intersection of technology and entrepreneurship. The business advice is that it's cheaper to buy it than build it. The engineer's perspective is…
> I don't know how many times I've watched eager hackers get lambasted for "reinventing the wheel,"
Depends on context.. If it's someone learning, or hacking on some personal project, go ahead! It's a great way to learn.
However, if we're talking about a programmer in a commercial company, it's a different story. Your purpose is not to produce the most amount of your own code, your task is to produce a service of some sort. Unless the software/service you're working on a is a database, I expect you would use an existing database (assuming you need one). If the code you're creating needs to manipulate dates, I expect you use an existing library for such things. It will be available, it will be tested, it will handle all edge cases. Why would it be acceptable to spend a lot of time on reinventing that particular wheel, fixing bugs as they arise, etc?
Re: My fellow geeks, we need to have a talk.
#28Yep, I agree entirely. Stop being such sanctimonious fuckwits.
If "fuckwit" adds anything to your comment, can you explain what that is?
Are you the type of person who never expresses derision of something? Only using emotionally neutral words to describe anything?
"fuckwit" is defined as someone hopelessly lost, so much so they deserve a heaping helping of scorn for being so. The use of "fuckwit" added something for me. The people are very lost with respect to the thing we have called society, playing nice, and determining the importance of the piece they're commenting on. They deserve scorn for being that way. To express this another way (and to not accidentally evoke pity for them), you have to say "So clueless as to require scorn" or something equally awkward. Or someone could call the fuckwits a fuckwit and be done with it, getting across a precise shade of meaning.
From the Urban Dictionary: fuckwit
A person who is not only lacking in clue but is apparently unable or unwilling to acquire clue even when handed it on a plate in generous portions.
Re: My fellow geeks, we need to have a talk.
#29I don't think it's true in general that hackers (or geeks) "are jackasses to one another". Rather, it seems to depend a lot on the community. For example, I tend to work with Rails software, and the communities that I've encountered have (without exception!) been very friendly.
Though pessimism aside, I think the post is spot-on with its argument!
Re: My fellow geeks, we need to have a talk.
#30I think that the issue of open hostility in online communities stems from Anonymity more than anything else. Most people are very conciliatory face to face. Honestly, I'd prefer something between open hostility and straight up pacification. I definitely want constructive criticism, which is why I tend to like Hacker News. The comments that I have seen here tend to be more constructive than other places on the intertubes.