Sorry for nitpicking, but first sentence should be I'll bet you , not I bet you .
Paul Graham has managed to set himself up an army of nitpickers (free editors).
An alarming vision.
The List of N Things
51–60 of 68 posts
Re: The List of N Things
#52> You think of n/2 of them in the first 5 minutes. The word that leaps to mind here is "half". :)
Why use four characters when you can use three?
He also recently used "orthogonal" in an essay when it really wasn't the best word choice. When given the option to maximize eloquence, the author favors impressing the reader with his technical know-how, sacrificing being articulate for upping his nerd cred. Possibly a smart move for communicating with the HN community and securing his status as leader. A political thing. I often find myself talking more nerdy than I need to in #startups, for example.
Re: The List of N Things
#53Re: The List of N Things
#54"The list of n things similarly limits the damage that can be done by a bad writer." I have more things I want to do than I have time to do them; why in the world would I waste time reading something if I expected it to be by a bad writer? I have quit reading writers before when I came across strong evidence of bias or incompetence in their writings.
A bad writer does not bad ideas make!
Not necessarily, but the converse IS true, bad ideas make a bad writer no matter how easy to read or entertaining he may be.
Re: The List of N Things
#55Irrelevant, but too good to pass up with Paul's title: http://webspace.webring.com/people/fc/churud_geo/cyberiadn.h... ...a short bit of sci-fi for your reading pleasure.
Re: The List of N Things
#56Lists are just writing devices. There are lots of other writing devices, and they all serve the same purpose: as scaffolding for building up ideas and communicating effectively. Some of the popular ones: * Socratic dialog (ie, the openings of G.E.B. chapters) * Extended metaphor (ie, mechanical_fish's zoo comment) * Anthopomorphism (ie, Gruber's adventures of the washed-up brushed metal theme) * F.A.Q. * Narrative (i…
* mechanical_fish's zoo comment http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=469940
* Gruber's adventures of the washed-up brushed metal theme ????
* Ivan Krstic's Porsche story http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=424506
Re: The List of N Things
#57This is a charming little essay. But why?
- The "exoskeleton" metaphor for an N-list having its skeletal structure on the outside made me smile.
- I like the explanation of N-lists having a flat structure. Clean modules, with no dependencies. If your code can naturally fit this structure, it will be simpler. Alan Kay says that by inventing new representations, we make their users more intelligent (e.g. multiplication with Roman v.s. Arabic numerals). If your new representation enables its user to think in flat terms about what previously required nested or recursive structures, then you have done something great.
- These are playful and novel ways of looking at commonplace things. They evoke my conviction that gold is all around us; just a step or two off the path is something incredible. All you need do is look.
But underlying all this is the lack of any discernible ulterior motive: it's just for fun. :-)
Re: The List of N Things
#58I just noticed that I have an implicit conviction that pg's essays are entirely written for us, that the comments here are their beginning and their end - their entire purpose.
I don't know if it's true; not that pg intends it, nor that that is how they are received. I have a strong sense that it is, without evidence.
Re: The List of N Things
#59Sorry for nitpicking, but first sentence should be I'll bet you , not I bet you .
I think the "I'll bet you..." form is more standard in the US, but saying "I bet you..." is definitely acceptable, and in my experience is actually much more common in some other English-speaking countries (e.g. England itself).
That's strange. I can't find a single example online where "you" isn't the subject of the bet (for example, I bet you look good on the dance floor).
Re: The List of N Things
#60Lists are just writing devices. There are lots of other writing devices, and they all serve the same purpose: as scaffolding for building up ideas and communicating effectively. Some of the popular ones: * Socratic dialog (ie, the openings of G.E.B. chapters) * Extended metaphor (ie, mechanical_fish's zoo comment) * Anthopomorphism (ie, Gruber's adventures of the washed-up brushed metal theme) * F.A.Q. * Narrative (i…
* mechanical_fish's zoo comment http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=469940 * Gruber's adventures of the washed-up brushed metal theme ???? * Ivan Krstic's Porsche story http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=424506