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Great developer tattoo, even better explanation.

sangwine.net

11–20 of 93 posts

Re: Great developer tattoo, even better explanation.

#11

I'll be interested to hear comments from fellow hackers. Reactions from colleagues have been... varied. Jim Sangwine

You completely won me over with the philosophy behind it. This should be personally meaningful to you for a long time. I recommend practicing a concise 10 sec explanation because people WILL ask what it means.

I think one of the benefits is that I can change the meaning depending on who I am talking to. "Why honey, it means I love you of course!" ;P

Re: Great developer tattoo, even better explanation.

#12

I'll be interested to hear comments from fellow hackers. Reactions from colleagues have been... varied. Jim Sangwine

It’s meaningful to him and that’s what matters. At no time did he say his goal was to impress us with his coding wizardry, so it’s irrelevant whether I think it’s clever, pedestrian, elegant, or tortured. Its stated purpose is to motivate him and remind him of what is important to his own happiness. Given this clearly stated requirement, the code as presented, and his statement that it is motivating him, I give decla…

Thanks : )

Re: Great developer tattoo, even better explanation.

#15
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a JS developer too, I decided to read the code before reading the explanation. I said to myself "where the feck does 'i' come from? I guess it must be coming from outside somewhere". Smiled when I read your description: > The variable i represents input from other people Very cool :) But, um, no syntax highlighting?

I considered it, but I was afraid people might think I was geeky.

nice ;)

I was once going to get this tattooed:

I still think about getting a code tattoo from time to time. I'm not really a PHP developer any more though.

I like the meta meaning of yours, it's timeless. Even if the JS syntax changes or you move into Obj-C or whatever, it still has the deeper meaning you've attached to it. I think that will make it age well.

Re: Great developer tattoo, even better explanation.

#17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And you still have space for the y combinator tattoo! - http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2008/02/17/y-combinat... - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=58027

Ha, cool! I'd not seen that one

What about an RSA tattoo?

http://www.geekytattoos.com/illegal-tattoos-rsa-tattoos/

Re: Great developer tattoo, even better explanation.

#18
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s meaningful to him and that’s what matters. At no time did he say his goal was to impress us with his coding wizardry, so it’s irrelevant whether I think it’s clever, pedestrian, elegant, or tortured. Its stated purpose is to motivate him and remind him of what is important to his own happiness. Given this clearly stated requirement, the code as presented, and his statement that it is motivating him, I give decla…

It seems you did not realize that you are replying to the tattoo's owner. However, your point stands if I mentally modify some pronouns and expresses my own sentiments as well. Tattoos, piercings, hair coloring, makeup, clothing are often for ourselves, not for being pretentious.

I didn’t, and quite possibly that’s for the best. I’d like to think that I’d have said exactly the same thing to Jim if I’d known he was the “canvas,” but as it turns out I know this is absolutely positively what I thought without attempting to apply tact :-)
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