Does anyone have this PDF available for download? (without the need to register first, and without the need for a Facebook account)
user coffeejunk has since posted one to dropbox: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5575823
_why's complete printer spool as one book [pdf]
11–20 of 140 posts
Re: _why's complete printer spool as one book [pdf]
#12Read a good portion of it, he is a good writer. Maybe that is the goal, the writing felt a bit Hunter S. Thompson gonzo style. Funny though that the more of a jerktoaster he became after being known, the longer he will be known, more than most. "I like what you've done with the character..."
Curious, what about his writing compelled you to draw the comparison to HST?
Re: _why's complete printer spool as one book [pdf]
#13On anonymous programmers, I respect this guy - Icefrog. Lead designer of Dota2, long time maintainer of Dota1 (And the one who really brought the game to the fore), he even works for Valve but nobody knows who he really is. To certain extent I think remaining anonymous forces you to be humble, which I think can be a good thing, but damn people want to put a name to everything. EDIT: I suspect some people at Valve wil…
Humble is not a word I'd use to describe this stunt. If _why and their readers are having fun then fair play to them, but this is putting more attention on the person and less on what they've done, whereas the truly humble would want the reverse.
Re: _why's complete printer spool as one book [pdf]
#14>84 pages This saga is the height of self-indulgence. I would provisionally explain all the hubbub around _why by the desire to flatter oneself that he can cross the gap between snow's two cultures (cf. apple).
I'm not sure what reaction you want to elicit by being so scathing, but I disagree with your assessment as it relies on the premise that programming is a science, which it's not.
It's a two headed beast, part science, part craft and _why lives deep in the craft territory. I think many of us here took time to realise that, that there's not just a right answer. When you realise it's a craft you want to be artistic with it, but you can only be with the output, who ever sees the input?
In my opinion _why neatly bridges that desire to be artistic with the invisible nature of the craftsmanship of code. It's an outlet that coding can't sate. And it happens by doing that he also taught and helped a lot of people.
Have you noticed how a lot of programmers are also musicians? I think that's part of the same desire.
Re: _why's complete printer spool as one book [pdf]
#15_why somewhat reminds me of David Foster Wallace.
Re: _why's complete printer spool as one book [pdf]
#16I'm reading it now, had to turn the laptop around and people gave me odd looks as I'm in a coffee shop. _why belongs to the line of writers that mastered the "stream of consciousness". Love the little details, the shades of little feelings he describes... reminds me of John Fante. Next month _why don't you read John Fante?
Re: _why's complete printer spool as one book [pdf]
#17I think the thing I like about _why -- not that anybody asked -- is that I'm never sure what to think when I'm reading this stuff. Usually I can't get through more than a few sentences of something without judging it: "That was smart, this was insightful, this author is a moron, I don't think that was right, I disagree with that but I'm not bothered by their opinion..."
_why really kills that here.
I'm never sure if there's a point to what he's writing, if he's playing a joke on people, or if he's playing a character, or if he's being totally and completely honest in an unusual way.
I'm not sure if I'm the joke, he's the joke, or if we're sharing a joke.
Or if it's not a joke at all and I'm just too stupid to understand.
It's really neat.
Re: _why's complete printer spool as one book [pdf]
#18Read a good portion of it, he is a good writer. Maybe that is the goal, the writing felt a bit Hunter S. Thompson gonzo style. Funny though that the more of a jerktoaster he became after being known, the longer he will be known, more than most. "I like what you've done with the character..."
Curious, what about his writing compelled you to draw the comparison to HST?
Just kind of random, rollercoaster presentation, direct experience intertwined with the overarching theme of withdrawing. The whole thing mentions writers he has read or influential to him so it is rooted in that. I guess it seems like a writing experiment as would HST maybe would do and a next step.
Re: _why's complete printer spool as one book [pdf]
#19On anonymous programmers, I respect this guy - Icefrog. Lead designer of Dota2, long time maintainer of Dota1 (And the one who really brought the game to the fore), he even works for Valve but nobody knows who he really is. To certain extent I think remaining anonymous forces you to be humble, which I think can be a good thing, but damn people want to put a name to everything. EDIT: I suspect some people at Valve wil…
Humble is not a word I'd use to describe this stunt. If _why and their readers are having fun then fair play to them, but this is putting more attention on the person and less on what they've done, whereas the truly humble would want the reverse.
Part of the the issue for _why seems to be that he got extremely disillusioned about criticism of his code; criticism he took to heart (in this book he also very explicitly say "I wrote hideous code for years"). So putting more attention on a persona that is thoroughly his own creation, and away from his code, seems to me like he is dismissing the worth of his coding.
In fact, I find it quite sad to see how he refers to his code - I admire a lot of what he did. Sure, a lot of it was not great engineering, but it was artful. E.g. Camping is fantastic to read, both for itself and as a sort of practical demonstration of how bloated many frameworks are. It's not that most people would ever have a good reason to use Camping as their web framework, but that to me is besides the point.
That said, part of it this whole thing also does seem to be driven by (hurt) pride.
I hope he sticks with the writing, though - so far I'm halfway through the PDF, and I love it.
Re: _why's complete printer spool as one book [pdf]
#20I emailed _why once, asking him how I should cite his name in a highschool project I was working on. Here is his response:
You can use my name (why the lucky stiff) and the date of
publication (feb 16, 2004 - present) as frequently in your
studies as you wish, so long as you keep your grade point
average up and you diversify your elective credits with a
broad portfolio of subjects. I am specifically hoping you
will bask in the study of 1930s Russian absurdist
literature. Oberiu is the name of the movement.
I will never forget you.