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Gay programmers

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Re: Gay programmers

#21

Post by rtfa »

nakajima wrote: post #8

I know smart programmers who are gay. I know smart programmers who are straight. It's foolish to think a sexual orientation would influence one's ability to program well. Also, just because a discussion has never taken place before doesn't mean it's worth having.

Have you seen the last season of the sopranos where the fat guy goes into an antique store, and he is told that he is a "natural" (w.r.t. appreciating art). So it's OK to stereotype gays as being better at artsy stuff, but not OK to think of straights as being better at, well, some other things?

Re: Gay programmers

#22

Post by underscore »

rtfa wrote: post #18
underscore wrote: post #16

I'm a gay programmer, and I'm not quite sure how my sexual orientation would affect how I code. If it is any help, most of the people around me seem to think I'm competent enough, at least to the point that they don't complain about what I write to my face. Perhaps they'll find this thread and respond. The more interesting question, at least to me, would be about the experiences of gay programmers (I guess I'm biased…

But you are not skeptical about correlations between programming talent and gender, are you?

I'm not really familiar enough with the subject to know whether I should be. If there are any serious studies out there about gender and code quality, I'd love to read them. While gender itself may well be irrelevant when it comes to programming aptitude, the way that a society treats girls and women (and the fact that it may be (is, for mine) different than the way it treats boys and men) could influence how many/which women go into the world of programming, which might in turn influence the quality of what they produce.

I can't remember ever meeting a female programmer that I didn't later come to respect for their skill. Anecdotal evidence isn't really useful, though.

edit: Good point. I guess that if a correlation may exist for women by this logic, it may well also exist for non-mainstream sexual orientations.

Re: Gay programmers

#23

Post by rms »

rtfa wrote: post #6
rms wrote: post #3

I'm calling troll, but you wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Turing.

You're right about Turing. He was the gay one, not von Neumann. I can't help but wonder however, how come you know so much about homosexuality amongst coders? Is it perhaps because of your own deviances? (I'm just curious. If the question is too personal, you don't have to answer)

You suck at trolling.

Re: Gay programmers

#25

Post by bootload »

"... Many people agreed on proggit and here that there is such a thing as "programming like a girl" ..."

Why couldn't it be "programming like a prat?"

"... What was your experience with FOO programmers? ..."

I know about these kind of questions except I care less about the labels someone gives them than the quality of their ideas and code.

Re: Gay programmers

#26

Post by froo »

I just came across this topic - not only is it irrelevant to HN, but it is plain to see this was designed to be an inflammatory topic.

I find it offensive that you would judge someone's coding ability on their sexual orientation (or for that matter, sex, skin colour, nationality, political preference or shoe size) as opposed to actual talent.

It's a pathetic attempt at trolling and I find it sad you feel the need to feed your (probably unfounded) superiority complex in such an immature way.

Before you respond with a "lol you're gay" comment rtfa, I'm straight - but this kind of crap is still unacceptable.

Re: Gay programmers

#27

Post by theoneill »

This is such a classic troll. I'm surprised you all fell for it. Maybe it's a good sign, though. Maybe it was because trolling is so rare here that you've lost your resistance.

Re: Gay programmers

#28

Post by andreyf »

rtfa wrote: post #5
andreyf wrote: post #2

Most likely, your sample is not statistically significant. How would someone's sexual orientation affect their coding?

My sample is 3-4 : bad. 0.8 (suspected gay) : good. That's not counting Von Neumann. This isn't statistically significant. That's why I'm asking about others' opinions. Why is everyone so quick to say girls tend to be bad programmers, but gay programmers are a touchy subject? This is not a troll. I'm just stimulating a discussion that AFAIK has never taken place before. Thanks

Girls are bad programmers? What is this, grade school?

Re: Gay programmers

#29

Post by billydee »

underscore wrote: post #16

I'm a gay programmer, and I'm not quite sure how my sexual orientation would affect how I code. If it is any help, most of the people around me seem to think I'm competent enough, at least to the point that they don't complain about what I write to my face. Perhaps they'll find this thread and respond. The more interesting question, at least to me, would be about the experiences of gay programmers (I guess I'm biased…

Think you might program with a lisp?
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