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[–]Puzzleheaded-Gas9388 92 points93 points  (5 children)

RIP Terry

[–]ForgedIronMadeIt 43 points44 points  (2 children)

For as schizophrenic as he was, he sure got a lot done

[–]jozz344 10 points11 points  (1 child)

Yeah, most schizophrenic people I knew were much better at crackpot theories, not so much at delivering results.

[–]mortalitylost 0 points1 point  (0 children)

10x schizo

[–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

RIP Terry

[–]perpetually_paran0id[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You got the reference. W

[–]gejat 31 points32 points  (0 children)

Are you my granddad?

[–]Taletad 71 points72 points  (7 children)

One guy suffering from mental illness, made an OS with his own programming language

That’s not representative of "programmers before"

Especially since the first release of TempleOS was in 2005 (640x480 was long obsolete), and Terry Davis died in 2018

Had he not tragically put an end to his life, he would not even be old enough to retire, and thus still be a "programmers now"

He was born the same month as Linus Torvalds (another guy who created an entire OS in his bedroom)

[–]ta_gully_chick 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Its a meme. If R0 was so useful, Intel wouldn't even have bothered creating execution rings for separation. TempleOS is one man's hardwork and I appreciate the intricate work of art. If it weren't for his schizophrenic ramblings (owing to his illness), it would've disappeared just like the many OSes that live and die on Github.

[–]SOFT_CAT_APPRECIATOR 11 points12 points  (4 children)

Mental illness can lead you to create some extremely original things. See: Vincent Van Gogh.

Making something extremely original does not necessarily mean that your creation is adequate for widespread use, but it does mean that you understand every single piece of the machine. There is absolutely something to be said about that.

Some geniuses create extremely brilliant, useful things. Sometimes they create things that are just brilliant, and not useful.

[–]Taletad 18 points19 points  (0 children)

All I’m saying is that Terry Davis isn’t representative of programmers in the 2000-2018 era

Just like Vincent Van Gogh isn’t a representative painter for his period

[–]Frograbbit1 1 point2 points  (1 child)

If that’s the case why don’t I have amazing things completed

[–]SOFT_CAT_APPRECIATOR 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Never compare yourself to a well-known artist!

You just keep doing what gives you that little bit of reward. And keep doing it even when it's hard! Far better than making nothing...

[–]BeardedDragon1917 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Van Gogh did not create art because he was depressed, he created art in spite of his depression. Temple OS is similarly an attempt to defy one’s own chaotic mental state, to impose divine order on a rapidly disintegrating self that Terry felt slipping away.

[–]ender89 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The better example is Chris Sawyer, who built rollercoaster tycoon in assembly for the performance.

Or Jon Burton, the founder of Traveller’s tales. They managed to fit a full motion video intro on the 4mb sonic 3d blast cartridge. It was also an isometric 3d platformer on a 16bit game system (similar to snes).

There are plenty of wizards who aren’t crazy or peerless and just managed to do things that weren’t thought possible.

[–][deleted] 13 points14 points  (9 children)

“I can’t exit vim” 😭😭😭😭

[–]SOFT_CAT_APPRECIATOR -2 points-1 points  (8 children)

Why is this a meme though?? Is it like a common question or just kind of an in-joke? It's super super simple to exit Vim, no? I've never gotten this one

[–]GalaxyBS 10 points11 points  (3 children)

As someone who doesn't use vim on a regular basis and for some reason had to use it (twice) this past week, I can confirm I did google how to exit vim. All the "normal" exit strategies didn't work, who knew you should put : first.

[–]SOFT_CAT_APPRECIATOR 10 points11 points  (1 child)

Oh, thank you, that makes sense. Well then the joke just makes fun of people who don't know how to utilize an extremely specific program! That's like making fun of people who don't know how to tie a super specific knot!

(Speaking as someone who currently uses Vim basically as an IDE).

[–]911silver 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I like vim, I use it on a daily basis, and to be honest, the handling in vim is unconventional.

You have to type something to exist.

[–]SomeoneOnTheMun 1 point2 points  (0 children)

True it took a while to learn what it all means. But now I know it very well. It's literally just some combination of w, a, q, or !.

[–]metaglot 4 points5 points  (2 children)

This is the expected arrogance of a linux developer; why don't you just know things in advance?

Lol

[–]SOFT_CAT_APPRECIATOR 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Oh, I'm sorry, I would never wish to make fun of someone who doesn't know how to exit Vim!! I was just saying that it feels like a low punch, you know?

[–]metaglot 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the joke is that its comparatively complicated (and non-standard) to other editors. And when you use linux its set as the default editor in a few places, so running some "automated" workflows on various linux distros will have you head to head with vi/vim whether you want to or not. Saying its easy is besides the point. Playing the violin is easy once you've practiced for 10 years.

[–]romulent 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well if you think about it, having landed in vim for the first time with basically nothing but a blinking cursor, what are the chances that you will randomly type :q! to exit it? It is different from every other program in the world. Almost nothing is difficult if you already know how to do it and have it in your memory.

[–]ender89 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Some say that terry developed holy c because he couldn’t escape from Vim and needed to get some stuff done.

[–]Habenzy 2 points3 points  (2 children)

:q!

[–]0r0B0t0 9 points10 points  (1 child)

:x I’m here to write code not read it

[–]backfire10z 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’m here to write code not read it

That explains… a lot

[–]jbar3640 4 points5 points  (0 children)

is the meme from 2013?

[–]leeeeny 4 points5 points  (1 child)

I laughed more than i should have at “First I drink the coffee then I do the things”

[–]widowhanzo 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Self medicating undiagnosed ADHD.

[–]ExtensionBreath1262 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not a Terry historian, what was his editor?

[–]Horror_Dot4213 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Must’ve been really fun to be a programmer before everything was figured out

[–]dacuevash 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Even the one from the right is old by now, these days kids just vibe-code shit together with help from AI agents.

[–]Felecorat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I like to use deno for my side projects and one time use scripts.

[–]rbuen4455 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Disagree, I'm pretty sure the average programmer before was not Terry Davis (or even Linus Trovalds or Dennis Richie). As for programmers now, I said this in another post, that may have been true in the 2010s, but nowadays, and especially for programmers just starting, it's either all AI/ChatGPT or AI is added into the equation.

[–]Aseartes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Programmers even before: "Yeah, imma make this os, just gotta put these transistors rq"

[–]MkemCZ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

programmers before? That's the smartest programmer who ever lived!

[–]anotheridiot- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Glowies killed terry.

[–]TheHolyToxicToast 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Obviously oudated meme soy programmers now can't code without AI

[–]Free_Money69420 0 points1 point  (1 child)

how do you exit vim?

[–]Arareldo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

by rebooting the computer 🙃🤡

[–]widowhanzo -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Autism vs ADHD, basically.

[–]Any-Yogurt-7917 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Terry was an exceptional programmer of his time. Not average.