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How to be a Programmer: A Short, Comprehensive, and Personal Summary

40 points by Keios 19y ago

imp 19y ago
short?
- Darmani 19y ago
  Adjectives such as "short" only make sense used relatively. For example, Napoleon Bonaparte is of average height relative to early 19th-century France, and short relative to 21st century France. Similarly, with 63 pages worth of text, compared to the average web page, this link is extremely long, but, compared to the average programming-related book, this link is extremely short.
  - pg 19y ago
    I think Napoleon was short for his time. At least, contemporaries spoke of him as short.
    - Darmani 19y ago
      Interesting. I checked Wikipedia again, and apparently the issue of Napoleon's height is in dispute. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Bonaparte#Napoleon.27s_height http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Bonaparte#Napoleon.27s... "Many historians have recently argued that, contrary to popular belief, Napoleon was not short as often depicted in popular culture. Although historians disagree on Napoleon's precise height, it has been suggested that he was actually slightly taller than the average early 19th-century Frenchman.[27] Some historians claim the French emperor's height was recorded as 5 ft. 2 in French units, corresponding to 1.68 meters or 5 ft. 6 in Imperial units."
      - david 19y ago
        I remember reading that the officials he was surrounded with were mostly taller than he was, so he looked short relative to tall people.
- Keios 19y ago
  I think short also because it can take a life time to master this subject and the author probably feels that there is much more to discuss than he has covered.
- Goladus 19y ago
  It said short + comprehensive. Each one of those sections could probably fill a book if you wanted to go into detail citing examples, explaining concepts thoroughly, clarifying ambiguities, debunking other theories, and such.
dybber 19y ago
Pdf version here: http://samizdat.mines.edu/howto/HowToBeAProgrammer.pdf http://samizdat.mines.edu/howto/HowToBeAProgrammer.pdf
- Keios 19y ago
  Thanks
palish 19y ago
"You should go home if you are thinking suicidal thoughts. You should take a break or go home if you think homicidal thoughts for more than a few seconds. You should send someone home if they show serious mental malfunctioning or signs of mental illness beyond mild depression. If you are tempted to be dishonest or deceptive in a way that you normally are not due to fatigue, you should take a break. Don't use cocaine or amphetamines to combat fatigue. Don't abuse caffeine." Godda love those big companies.

40 points by Keios 19y ago

imp 19y ago

short?

Darmani 19y ago
Adjectives such as "short" only make sense used relatively. For example, Napoleon Bonaparte is of average height relative to early 19th-century France, and short relative to 21st century France. Similarly, with 63 pages worth of text, compared to the average web page, this link is extremely long, but, compared to the average programming-related book, this link is extremely short.
- pg 19y ago
  I think Napoleon was short for his time. At least, contemporaries spoke of him as short.
  - Darmani 19y ago
    Interesting. I checked Wikipedia again, and apparently the issue of Napoleon's height is in dispute. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Bonaparte#Napoleon.27s_height http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Bonaparte#Napoleon.27s... "Many historians have recently argued that, contrary to popular belief, Napoleon was not short as often depicted in popular culture. Although historians disagree on Napoleon's precise height, it has been suggested that he was actually slightly taller than the average early 19th-century Frenchman.[27] Some historians claim the French emperor's height was recorded as 5 ft. 2 in French units, corresponding to 1.68 meters or 5 ft. 6 in Imperial units."
    - david 19y ago
      I remember reading that the officials he was surrounded with were mostly taller than he was, so he looked short relative to tall people.
Keios 19y ago
I think short also because it can take a life time to master this subject and the author probably feels that there is much more to discuss than he has covered.
Goladus 19y ago
It said short + comprehensive. Each one of those sections could probably fill a book if you wanted to go into detail citing examples, explaining concepts thoroughly, clarifying ambiguities, debunking other theories, and such.

dybber 19y ago

Pdf version here: http://samizdat.mines.edu/howto/HowToBeAProgrammer.pdf http://samizdat.mines.edu/howto/HowToBeAProgrammer.pdf

Keios 19y ago
Thanks

palish 19y ago

"You should go home if you are thinking suicidal thoughts. You should take a break or go home if you think homicidal thoughts for more than a few seconds. You should send someone home if they show serious mental malfunctioning or signs of mental illness beyond mild depression. If you are tempted to be dishonest or deceptive in a way that you normally are not due to fatigue, you should take a break. Don't use cocaine or amphetamines to combat fatigue. Don't abuse caffeine." Godda love those big companies.