On 2010-11-10, Lawrence D'Oliveiro <l...@geek-central.gen.new_zealand> wrote: > What was sad to me to read <http://www.seebs.net/c/c_tcn4e.html> was this > phrase of yours:
> ... but rather, takes the shortest path to something that won't get > those complaints anymore ... > To me, this is the sign of someone who doesn't really enjoy what they do. Yes. I both write and program, and I do them because I love them. If I won the lottery tomorrow (and hey, my chances are only very very slightly lower than everyone else's), I wouldn't stop programming or writing. I might change my focus some, but both of them are things I'd keep doing. > Because somebody who cares about what they do would take the trouble to get > it right. But if he can't be bothered, why does he keep doing it? There must > be more pleasant ways of getting a meal ticket... It's hard to say. I get the feeling sometimes that he's one of the people to whom programming is sort-of-fun, but not fun when you have to get all persnickety about it. Similarly, writing is fun if you're getting praised for it, but dealing with criticism is harder. (Trust me, I know of this; I have gotten a fair number of corrections over the years.) That said, I suspect he's made a fairly large amount of money; multiple bestsellers is a pretty good way to make a decent bit of pocket change. I may have my gripes about Python, but I will say this: The Python community seems full of people who are passionate about writing good code. I would much rather be in a community of people who care a lot about how I should do things, but I think they're wrong, than about people who figure anything that the interpreter accepts is fine. I can learn from people I disagree with, but not from people who don't care. -s -- Copyright 2010, all wrongs reversed. Peter Seebach / usenet-nos...@seebs.net http://www.seebs.net/log/ <-- lawsuits, religion, and funny pictures http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Game_(Scientology) <-- get educated! I am not speaking for my employer, although they do rent some of my opinions. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list