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I admire Fabrice Bellard. He is almost certainly a better overall programmer
461–470 of 488 posts
Re: I admire Fabrice Bellard. He is almost certainly a better overall programmer
#462Earlier quoted context omitted.
This sub-thread was in reply to someone who stated that "'code is the product' is what IMO caused the downfall of this entire profession".
…and my comment was in reply to someone who stated they’d never met a programmer who values attractive code over shipping a product. ;)
Can’t we value both?
If we consider that “attractive code,” to many means simple, elegant… and therefore easy to extend, maintain, few errors, performant, etc.
Re: I admire Fabrice Bellard. He is almost certainly a better overall programmer
#463Earlier quoted context omitted.
As an extension to your last point, here in the US people love complaining about politics (on both sides) but very few people (including me!) take the time to come up with solutions and go to town halls, or write to senators apart from the automated message that makes you feel like you did a thing, or even run for office. Of course, all of those are hard! And I think that speaks to the modern tarpits. No one set out…
I see this as a balance between effort and impact. I don't know anything about politics - maybe this is how it should work - but I do know corporate IT bureaucracy. In many cases, the activation energy required to move the needle on rather trivial things just isn't worth the effor; so you look for workarounds, forgotten corners of the infra, or other rogue ways to actually do stuff. When an IT department says to me -…
> formalize these 20 pages of requirements, death by powerpoint style, and put it in our suggestion box - I just pass on that.
Why pass on it now? There has never been a better time in history to deal with it than today: AI can oneshot most of what you've described.
Re: I admire Fabrice Bellard. He is almost certainly a better overall programmer
#464Earlier quoted context omitted.
He also knows what to keep proprietary and monetize.
Any examples? I guess I only know of his public/FOSS works.
Re: I admire Fabrice Bellard. He is almost certainly a better overall programmer
#465Earlier quoted context omitted.
err? afaik Bellard never had any beef with Burger Becky. Both are legendary programmers, but somewhat different eras. I have no idea what you're suggesting.
I think he was referring to Carmack's note on Burger Becky when she passed away.
Ah, thanks, yeah, I just looked it up.
I had no idea.
Re: I admire Fabrice Bellard. He is almost certainly a better overall programmer
#466Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are plenty of hard problems that need solving. One co-worker, for example, has headed up the team that convert the proprietary RAW format from various camera vendors to a standard RGB format that can then be edited/adjusted in Photos, etc. The cameras (vendors) never rest and as such he's kept quite busy. Another coworker was the guy you turned to who could walk a stack, read registers, and then tell you that y…
Obviously it's advanced work, but the problems might be harder due to the Apple-specific circumstances and tech debt; and not because they are globally hard for humanity.
No, you're right. No one at Apple is solving world hunger. And FWIW, these are engineers who, like I had, started at Apple in the 90's. There were of course no glass icons, etc., then. Few of us can steer the ship any longer.
Back when I began though (1995) the engineers more or less were driving—not the designers, management. (Were there even designers in the 90's at Apple?)
Of course history will show how well that worked for Apple. When Jobs came back and the company became successful (financially) again, it started sucking more and more for engineering. The lunatics were no longer allowed to run the asylum.
I suppose I could have left then, but I was also looking at retiring in a decade or so and was still an "Apple fan" from my love of the Mac from the late 80's. There is no way I was going to, for example, apply to work at Microsoft.
Re: I admire Fabrice Bellard. He is almost certainly a better overall programmer
#467Earlier quoted context omitted.
…and my comment was in reply to someone who stated they’d never met a programmer who values attractive code over shipping a product. ;)
Can’t we value both? If we consider that “attractive code,” to many means simple, elegant… and therefore easy to extend, maintain, few errors, performant, etc.
That's what this wider conversation discusses.
Re: I admire Fabrice Bellard. He is almost certainly a better overall programmer
#468Re: I admire Fabrice Bellard. He is almost certainly a better overall programmer
#469Earlier quoted context omitted.
The stories of Narwala Gabarnmang say hi.
Animals, people, clay pots. It's textbook cave painting from that era, and no myth can be recovered from it. The only myths in cave paintings are the ones modern people project back when romanticizing them.
I sincerely doubt you have any clue what you are talking about.
Re: I admire Fabrice Bellard. He is almost certainly a better overall programmer
#470Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Deciding what to work on might be the most important question in life. Work on being a positive influence in the world. Help your neighbour when they are in need and fight for the rights of those less fortunate than yourself.
>"Work on being a positive influence in the world." Different groups have different "positives" / negatives. So unless trivial like don't eat babies who's the judge?
Everyone wants to feel special. A little common humanity goes a long way.