Closure, from why the lucky stiff (2013) • Hacker News Board

Re: Closure, from why the lucky stiff (2013)

#11

Post by tboyd47 » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 3:33 PM UTC

Worth reading through for a chuckle. Don't deprive yourself.

Why_ had a type of character we can easily forget used to exist, in this modern world where everyone is either slammed through cookie-cutters to become over-socialized slimy corporate people or medicated into a zombie-like state of partial existence.

Re: Closure, from why the lucky stiff (2013)

#12

Post by aconbere » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 3:34 PM UTC

masto wrote: post #8

Would anyone be willing to explain this? Who is "us", what is a PCL, what is a spool, what are these random words? Is this supposed to be a puzzle?

I believe the conceit here is that _why is communicating to us through a printer queue or "spool". PCL files are a form of printer data file.

Re: Closure, from why the lucky stiff (2013)

#13

Post by ornornor » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 3:35 PM UTC

masto wrote: post #8

Would anyone be willing to explain this? Who is "us", what is a PCL, what is a spool, what are these random words? Is this supposed to be a puzzle?

PCL is postscript common language or something like that, basically an alternative to PDF as far as I know.

Re: Closure, from why the lucky stiff (2013)

#14

Post by Arubis » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 3:35 PM UTC

_why's work was much of what got me into Ruby in the first place. Not so much quirky as proudly both hyperliterate and unhinged, like the computing world's extension of depressed indie bands meeting David Foster Wallace in the early aughts.

Most of us that would've been into _why's stuff now have more traditional-looking jobs and responsibilities. But I'm so grateful for what he showed us then, and miss the more genuinely human, broken and vulnerable community he represented.

Re: Closure, from why the lucky stiff (2013)

#15

Post by gosukiwi » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 3:35 PM UTC

ornornor wrote: post #10

maxfurman wrote: post #4

I'll take this opportunity to link to Why's Poignant Guide to Ruby - https://poignant.guide - one of the most unique and inspiring programming language tutorials you'll ever read.

I never got it. Everyone says it’s fantastic, I feel like an idiot for absolutely not getting it at all when it came out and still not today.

Yeah not my thing either, I'd rather see a cheatsheet and a few examples lol

Re: Closure, from why the lucky stiff (2013)

#16

Post by sillysaurusx » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 3:35 PM UTC

forks wrote: post #5

sillysaurusx wrote: post #2

GitHub is one of the most frustrating platforms to try to read a pdf on. Would anyone mind posting a direct link? It’s basically impossible to get it to show on my iPad, and I forget the raw url syntax at the moment. Sorry for the unrelated comment, but maybe the direct pdf link will help others too.

Does this link from the repo's README help? https://www.dropbox.com/s/c0n2dljz8anih62/CLOSURE.pdf?dl=0

Thank you for the attempt. On an iPad it’s only a small step up from GitHub. Dropbox’s renderer doesn’t load in all the pages, so most of it is blank.

We live in interesting times. Everyone wants to invent their own pdf renderer instead of letting the host OS do it. :)

Re: Closure, from why the lucky stiff (2013)

#17

Post by lquist » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 3:38 PM UTC

maxfurman wrote: post #4

I'll take this opportunity to link to Why's Poignant Guide to Ruby - https://poignant.guide - one of the most unique and inspiring programming language tutorials you'll ever read.

I would argue that it is the only programming tutorial that could be called literature.

Re: Closure, from why the lucky stiff (2013)

#18

Post by sillysaurusx » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 3:39 PM UTC

ornornor wrote: post #10

maxfurman wrote: post #4

I'll take this opportunity to link to Why's Poignant Guide to Ruby - https://poignant.guide - one of the most unique and inspiring programming language tutorials you'll ever read.

I never got it. Everyone says it’s fantastic, I feel like an idiot for absolutely not getting it at all when it came out and still not today.

For what it’s worth, I felt the same way, but never dared voice it.

I think it’s worth appreciating as a thing of beauty. The raw talent required to make it is just incredible, and it probably takes a Rubyist to fully see the intricacies of what we’re meant to “get”. There’s a place for this kind of work, and it’s one of the delights of life that it exists at all.

Re: Closure, from why the lucky stiff (2013)

#19

Post by anyfoo » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 3:40 PM UTC

ornornor wrote: post #13

masto wrote: post #8

Would anyone be willing to explain this? Who is "us", what is a PCL, what is a spool, what are these random words? Is this supposed to be a puzzle?

PCL is postscript common language or something like that, basically an alternative to PDF as far as I know.

Printer Common Language. More an alternative to PostScript than to PDF, in that it's a language that a lot of printers understand (as the name suggests).

Re: Closure, from why the lucky stiff (2013)

#20

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 3:40 PM UTC

aconbere wrote: post #12

masto wrote: post #8

Would anyone be willing to explain this? Who is "us", what is a PCL, what is a spool, what are these random words? Is this supposed to be a puzzle?

I believe the conceit here is that _why is communicating to us through a printer queue or "spool". PCL files are a form of printer data file.

[deleted]