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Mastering Programming (2016)

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Re: Mastering Programming (2016)

#21
post #16
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"found them all a bit pants" Can you explain this phrase to me? I've never heard it before and I can't get the meaning from the context. Thanks

refers to underpants, with some perhaps dubious stains. common uk english.

Thanks for that. I figured is was UK but didn't want to assume.

Re: Mastering Programming (2016)

#22
post #10
post #5

[flagged]

"found them all a bit pants" Can you explain this phrase to me? I've never heard it before and I can't get the meaning from the context. Thanks

I believe it's this one?

- "adjective. British slang. Not good; total crap; nonsense; rubbish; bad "The first half of the movie was pants but I stayed until the end and it was actually a great film.""

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pants

HN is the pants, man! (am I doing it right? am I cool?)

Re: Mastering Programming (2016)

#23
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

look at any of the bullet points in the article. it's very hard to constructivly criticise any of them, they are all so vapid. typical of beck's writings.

I think it's more likely that if you can't find anything constructive to say about it, that maybe you don't have a valid argument (your original post was an ad hominem attack after all).

not ad hominem - i know nothing about him as a person. i have read 3 or 4 of his books (have you?) and found them pretty worthless.

Re: Mastering Programming (2016)

#24
post #12
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"found them all a bit pants" Can you explain this phrase to me? I've never heard it before and I can't get the meaning from the context. Thanks

I can’t seem to find the history of it, but it essentially means somethings a bit rubbish, bad, or crap. Pants are typically underwear in Britain, we wear trousers (Jeans, chinos, suit trousers) over our pants (boxers, y-fronts, briefs) so probably not something you’d want to show off that much.

Thanks for the reference to pants. In US pants covers jeans, chinos, slacks. Shorts are well, shorts. Underwear is our boxers, briefs, tighty-whiteys, etc.

Re: Mastering Programming (2016)

#25
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's more likely that if you can't find anything constructive to say about it, that maybe you don't have a valid argument (your original post was an ad hominem attack after all).

not ad hominem - i know nothing about him as a person. i have read 3 or 4 of his books (have you?) and found them pretty worthless.

In your original post, you dismissed the article because you read previous books of his and thought they were bad. That is literally an ad hominem.

Re: Mastering Programming (2016)

#26
post #24
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can’t seem to find the history of it, but it essentially means somethings a bit rubbish, bad, or crap. Pants are typically underwear in Britain, we wear trousers (Jeans, chinos, suit trousers) over our pants (boxers, y-fronts, briefs) so probably not something you’d want to show off that much.

Thanks for the reference to pants. In US pants covers jeans, chinos, slacks. Shorts are well, shorts. Underwear is our boxers, briefs, tighty-whiteys, etc.

A lot of Brits will use pants the same as you do to be fair, myself included.

Shorts are mostly just shorts, but we do have jorts and chorts depending on how hipster your shorts wearing cohorts are.

Re: Mastering Programming (2016)

#28
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

not ad hominem - i know nothing about him as a person. i have read 3 or 4 of his books (have you?) and found them pretty worthless.

In your original post, you dismissed the article because you read previous books of his and thought they were bad. That is literally an ad hominem.

no, it isn't. ad hominem is attacking a person. i was criticising his writings.

Re: Mastering Programming (2016)

#29
post #5

[flagged]

> what actual publicly available product has he ever produced? oh, i remember - a not very good smalltalk test framework. See also, Bob Martin.

I think Martin has a lot more to answer for as far as the sorry state of software today goes. Watching his discussion with Casey Muratori on GitHub last year was great. Not many people saw it, but boy does he compare poorly to a truly capable and knowledgeable programmer - https://github.com/unclebob/cmuratori-discussion

Re: Mastering Programming (2016)

#30
post #5

[flagged]

Kent writes a lot about metacognitive skills that are notoriously difficult to put to language because they sound so mundane but are highly enlightening when internalized.

Meditation and insight are useful analogues here, they sound utterly mundane or obvious when written about, even in highly technical or mystical contexts like mahamudra because they operate on behavior and schemas below language.

I think Kent’s writing is useful as a pointing method: read what he says and watch how you undermine yourself during work. It’s easier said than done too because cognitively demanding tasks undermine metacognition.

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