Sometimes I find it hard to believe that such a cheerful character has ended up being so polarizing. People both lionize and demonize this guy, and neither one is fair. _Why is not the greatest genius who ever lived, but he inspired a lot of people to get into programming, is a very witty and creative person, and a pretty damn good hacker as well. I could think of far worse people to honor.
1. He was so whimsical. Some people just can't cope with whimsy. To them, the world is a serious place for serious business (like programming). Others wanted to dance to his tune, and were glad to join the parade, but wanted someone out else front. _why was a great drum major.
2. When he took down his repos without any warning, the serious people felt as though _why had breached some kind of un-written contract, and the parade folks felt like the children of divorcees: abandoned, and wondering if somehow it was their fault.
When emotions get involved, you get the polarization. Simple as that. Whatever else you say about the guy, he was a great storyteller.
The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. I think a lot of people really loved _why, but were hurt that he left and by the way he left. So hating the guy is a lot closer to caring than you might think.
_why gave Rubyists permission to have fun, make messes, and not take yourself seriously. Thanks _why for inspiring me to Try Ruby. I'm teaching my 8 year old son some Ruby today in your honor.
There are very few people I've ever admired as much as this guy. He had a fantastic attitude towards programming, absolutely one of a kind.
If he had to sacrifice that for the sake of his real life, I could accept that. But if he really wanted privacy, he could have just stopped participating and let himself fade into obscurity.
Instead, he threw a tantrum and nuked all his sites. He didn't want privacy, he wanted to drop a big drama bomb on everyone. He's not the first person I've known to pull the disappearing act and it's not something I admire or want to celebrate, it's just jeuvenile and petty.
Nelson Mandela day, I can see why ;), even if his life didn't affect me personally in any way.
I can think of plenty of people where it would be appropriate to commemorate their passing (And both Mandela and 'why' (the person, not the alias) are still alive) by naming a day for them.
What if _why was the person who motivated you most for picking a career in programming? _why's persona is an inspiration to see programming and life in a different light for some people (myself included).
You can't compare Martin Luther King day and whyday -- whyday is clearly meant to be a more localised celebration (local to ruby community, or programming community).
What day should we pick as his birthday? Since we're celebrating his persona rather than his actual person, what should this be? The day he launched his first ruby project? The day he published his first post on the redhanded blog? The day that _why's poignant guide to ruby was first published?
Guy came along, a bit unconventional and smarter than the average. Wrote and made available some very good software for its time. Inspired a following, of people who had no business trying to be whimsical or clever. Guy went away. Weeping sadness, betrayal!
I didn't know much about _why until after he left. I only experienced his works later, had a look under the hood of Potion and was inspired by his passions.
In this spirit I'll take the rest of the day of and go hacking on my scanner/copier web-front-end so my family can do everything by themselves while I'm away.
I'm not a Rubyist but there is something magically about _why. He should be an inspiration to the advocates of all programming and we should try to emulate some of the whimsy and fun he brought to the craft.
Programming will be a lot better with a little more of _why-like magic in it.
I believe pretty popular relationship advice on reddit is that if you catch your SO cheating on you then you should pack up and leave without saying a thing. Apparently it really gets to the other person as they don't really know why they left.
Yeah, no thanks. Programmers already ignore best practices and already have too much fun, look at the lack of good documentation for a lot of projects and look at the crappiness of most apps or the piles of bugs they contain. There are very few programmers who act professionally, I don't know why you would want to celebrate that fact.
Do you think the "crappiness of most apps" is because those apps were just too well-loved by their creators or because the people behind the app didn't care enough to do it properly (or even learn how to)?
Turning programming into mindless drudgery where you just go down a checklist of best practices is the reason so many programs are crap. The apps by passionate solo developers who really pour themselves into their work tend to be better than the just-barely-passes-tests work you'll get out of a cog-in-the-machine enterprise coder who just wants to go home.
"Best Practices" are anything but--becoming dogmatic about programming is a Bad Thing(tm).
Otherwise, the projects that WhyDay is encouraging are meant to be creative. Without creativity, we stagnate. No one is suggesting that a 4kb implementation of X become part of standard libraries. However, there could be endlessly useful things learned from such exercises even if its just a creative outlet for many programmers.
[+] [-] compay|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] saturdayplace|15 years ago|reply
1. He was so whimsical. Some people just can't cope with whimsy. To them, the world is a serious place for serious business (like programming). Others wanted to dance to his tune, and were glad to join the parade, but wanted someone out else front. _why was a great drum major.
2. When he took down his repos without any warning, the serious people felt as though _why had breached some kind of un-written contract, and the parade folks felt like the children of divorcees: abandoned, and wondering if somehow it was their fault.
When emotions get involved, you get the polarization. Simple as that. Whatever else you say about the guy, he was a great storyteller.
[+] [-] milesf|15 years ago|reply
_why gave Rubyists permission to have fun, make messes, and not take yourself seriously. Thanks _why for inspiring me to Try Ruby. I'm teaching my 8 year old son some Ruby today in your honor.
[+] [-] extension|15 years ago|reply
There are very few people I've ever admired as much as this guy. He had a fantastic attitude towards programming, absolutely one of a kind.
If he had to sacrifice that for the sake of his real life, I could accept that. But if he really wanted privacy, he could have just stopped participating and let himself fade into obscurity.
Instead, he threw a tantrum and nuked all his sites. He didn't want privacy, he wanted to drop a big drama bomb on everyone. He's not the first person I've known to pull the disappearing act and it's not something I admire or want to celebrate, it's just jeuvenile and petty.
[+] [-] mapleoin|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rue|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] eli|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jacquesm|15 years ago|reply
Nelson Mandela day, I can see why ;), even if his life didn't affect me personally in any way.
I can think of plenty of people where it would be appropriate to commemorate their passing (And both Mandela and 'why' (the person, not the alias) are still alive) by naming a day for them.
But whyday?
[+] [-] mapleoin|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bruceboughton|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nickpinkston|15 years ago|reply
http://hacketyhack.heroku.com/
[+] [-] steveklabnik|15 years ago|reply
Also, please update your links everyone, I have http://hackety-hack.com now.
[+] [-] jdp|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] raganwald|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] davidw|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lsb|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mapleoin|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rue|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] catch404|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bumi|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] johkra|15 years ago|reply
I didn't know much about _why until after he left. I only experienced his works later, had a look under the hood of Potion and was inspired by his passions.
In this spirit I'll take the rest of the day of and go hacking on my scanner/copier web-front-end so my family can do everything by themselves while I'm away.
[+] [-] randallsquared|15 years ago|reply
Has it only been a year?
[+] [-] juxtaposition|15 years ago|reply
Do you really think _why would want you to celebrate Whyday? Let it go already.
[+] [-] dublinclontarf|15 years ago|reply
We miss you _why
[+] [-] steveklabnik|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sh1mmer|15 years ago|reply
Programming will be a lot better with a little more of _why-like magic in it.
[+] [-] jerguismi|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jw84|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] iamjustlooking|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ahoyhere|15 years ago|reply
I wonder _why I wonder _why
I wonder _why I wonder!
... with apologies to Richard Feynman, another jester.
[+] [-] omouse|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chc|15 years ago|reply
Turning programming into mindless drudgery where you just go down a checklist of best practices is the reason so many programs are crap. The apps by passionate solo developers who really pour themselves into their work tend to be better than the just-barely-passes-tests work you'll get out of a cog-in-the-machine enterprise coder who just wants to go home.
[+] [-] hammerdr|15 years ago|reply
Otherwise, the projects that WhyDay is encouraging are meant to be creative. Without creativity, we stagnate. No one is suggesting that a 4kb implementation of X become part of standard libraries. However, there could be endlessly useful things learned from such exercises even if its just a creative outlet for many programmers.
[+] [-] jevans|15 years ago|reply