When hackers start designing typefaces — lovely! But nothing new under the sun: Don Knuth worked together with Hermann Zapf (e.g. on the design/development of AMS Euler). Before that legendary collaboration, Knuth worked alone on his Computer Modern Family — which is, by all means, a feat of clever programming in ways designers never could think/dream of (parameterized design variables, etc.). But Knuth eventually realised he needed the help of a vetted calligrapher and type designer like Zapf to get the best out of his software — and improve on it (Knuth’s account on the collaboration is a great read). A lot can be said (and has been said) on design principles, objective geometry vs optical subjectivism, quantifiability, measurability and programmability in and of type design. Adrian Frutiger probably goes farthest in this theoretical thinking.
Anyhow: I fully support hackers who engage in typography and type design. I fancied both the designer/developer of Hermit, as the HN community in general might be interested to hear the opinion of the type design pro’s. They’ve had their dedicated forum since 2000. I cross-posted the link to this thread on Typohile.com in the hope typophiles over there would want to share their views. If you’re interested, it’s here: http://typophile.com/node/106204