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Closure, from why the lucky stiff (2013)

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Re: Closure, from why the lucky stiff (2013)

#61

Post by tilne »

local_crmdgeon wrote: post #55
Arubis wrote: post #14

_why's work was much of what got me into Ruby in the first place. Not so much quirky as proudly both hyperliterate and unhinged, like the computing world's extension of depressed indie bands meeting David Foster Wallace in the early aughts. Most of us that would've been into _why's stuff now have more traditional-looking jobs and responsibilities. But I'm so grateful for what he showed us then, and miss the more genu…

I miss that in general. Everyone has become a Cool Internet Person who acts like a celebrity, or at least in a homogenized way. I miss the internet of weirdos, that felt separate from the real world. I worry a lot that I contributed to how this is now, too, in my professional life.

Why do you think you contributed?

Edit: maybe “how” would be a better word to use.

Re: Closure, from why the lucky stiff (2013)

#62

Post by agumonkey »

local_crmdgeon wrote: post #55
Arubis wrote: post #14

_why's work was much of what got me into Ruby in the first place. Not so much quirky as proudly both hyperliterate and unhinged, like the computing world's extension of depressed indie bands meeting David Foster Wallace in the early aughts. Most of us that would've been into _why's stuff now have more traditional-looking jobs and responsibilities. But I'm so grateful for what he showed us then, and miss the more genu…

I miss that in general. Everyone has become a Cool Internet Person who acts like a celebrity, or at least in a homogenized way. I miss the internet of weirdos, that felt separate from the real world. I worry a lot that I contributed to how this is now, too, in my professional life.

Sometimes I feel bad for having been a customer of digital devices and internet, and then going into computing studies.

It's strange to observe a world I dislike even though I was part of the wave driving the change.

Re: Closure, from why the lucky stiff (2013)

#63

Post by q845712 »

ornornor wrote: post #10
maxfurman wrote: post #4

I'll take this opportunity to link to Why's Poignant Guide to Ruby - https://poignant.guide - one of the most unique and inspiring programming language tutorials you'll ever read.

I never got it. Everyone says it’s fantastic, I feel like an idiot for absolutely not getting it at all when it came out and still not today.

I said this elsewhere too -- while in general I like things _like_ the poignant guide, and appreciate its existence, I never actually finished reading it.

To me it's an interesting touchstone work showing/reminding that the "invisibly neutral" tone we've collectively adopted is still an editorial choice and cultural moment.

I'm sure writing and communication styles will drift back and forth over the next few decades. Sometime soon (if not already) another generation of younger developers will coalesce around some document that feels authentically counter-cultural, like their own late-night jokes and dreams have been given just enough coherence to hook them in, and then I probably still won't get it because I'll be out of touch.... :)

Re: Closure, from why the lucky stiff (2013)

#64

Post by echelon »

steveklabnik wrote: post #46

Hey folks. Not sure why this is here today, but happy to answer questions. I've long held... complicated feelings about a lot of all of this. For an analysis I did of the work at the time, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaWHVceDbFo

Time well spent.

Thanks for the talk!

Re: Closure, from why the lucky stiff (2013)

#65

Post by bloopernova »

steveklabnik wrote: post #48
bloopernova wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why the lucky stiff wrote a great, poignant guide to Ruby. A lot of people loved it and demanded more from Why. They decided they didn't want to be in the public eye even a little, and wrote a goodbye. I think CLOSURE is that goodbye?

This is broadly correct, yes. _why decided to leave, and did so. Years later, his website reappeared, containing the information I've collected here. CLOSURE is the title I gave it, because that is what I think it represents.

Thank you for the clarification. I was hoping someone would correct me because I don't know the whole story. (But of course I wanted to help answer the question)

Re: Closure, from why the lucky stiff (2013)

#66

Post by JackFr »

ornornor wrote: post #10
maxfurman wrote: post #4

I'll take this opportunity to link to Why's Poignant Guide to Ruby - https://poignant.guide - one of the most unique and inspiring programming language tutorials you'll ever read.

I never got it. Everyone says it’s fantastic, I feel like an idiot for absolutely not getting it at all when it came out and still not today.

Mostly the same, except I don’t feel like an idiot for not getting it. I thought it was self-indulgent and too clever by half. But I admit that’s just taste and not a measure of its objective worth.

I have a theory about _why’s popularity though. I think a lot of it comes from the cohort of us who were strictly trained in a C/Fortran/Knuth Art of Computer Programming style old-school approach. When your first presented with the mind blowing ideas of what programming can be when you start to liberate yourself from the machine — if the source has a quirky voice, there always remains a soft spot in your heart for them, be it the Little Schemer, SICP or _why.

Re: Closure, from why the lucky stiff (2013)

#67

Post by th0ma5 »

My complicated feelings is that producing it and consuming it was all very unhealthy. There is nothing mystical about a machine and it isn't curious or interested that you can make a universal machine do the logic of any conceivable machine.

I feel these works did a lot to hobble people in their growth by putting too much emphasis on fantasy and not enough of actual understanding. I blame our mess of a JavaScript ecosystem on this idea that if you can dream it you can do it, and should do it, and that's wrong. It is like the old toddler wielding a knife thing, just because you found it doesn't mean you know what you have.

Re: Closure, from why the lucky stiff (2013)

#68

Post by dionidium »

thom wrote: post #33
ornornor wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never got it. Everyone says it’s fantastic, I feel like an idiot for absolutely not getting it at all when it came out and still not today.

It was very much of a time and place, and obviously people are welcome to take or leave it. I certainly cringe that every language now seems to need its own twee, jokey, book-long tutorial, like Learn You a Haskell for Great Good and Clojure for the Brave and True. But Why’s (Poignant) Guide captured the playfulness and nostalgia for lost time that the Ruby community evoked for a lot of people back then, especially t…

In case it makes anybody feel better, I was "around" at the time and I never got it, either. Tried to read it many times and never could finish.

Re: Closure, from why the lucky stiff (2013)

#69

Post by preseinger »

rcme wrote: post #53
preseinger wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it characterizes programming in a way that is basically incoherent to most stereotypical programmers (i agree with you, for the record, it was gobbledegook to me too) the question is: does programming represent some kind of subjective expression, or some kind of objective precision? why's little zine says it's the former, but that's not how i see it at all programming is, for me, like working on math problems, or bal…

Programming, objectively speaking, is nothing like balancing equations. When balancing equations, there is only one right answer. When programming, there is a goal and a series of subjective choices need to made in order to reach the goal. There are many right answers. The art and craft is in those subjective decisions. You might not care about the craft in those decisions, but, objectively speaking, I don’t think yo…

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