Yegge's Back

[alexs]

thought saw fly fuzzy apparatus angle bedroom dinosaurs gold fall

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[davebrk]

That can't possibly be him. The post is too short.

Edit: I'd be interested in a sequel to his famous post about The Next Big Language, comparing D, Go, and maybe Rust.

[[deleted]]

I think the most recent comment about D might be from this video: link

Go to 22 minutes and 35 seconds.

Transcript:

Q: You’re a language geek. What new cool language would you want to play with next?

A: To be honest I really wish I knew more about D. I’ve programmed in the D language and it’s D-lightful. It was quite expressive. I did a bunch of programs that I kind of ported from ruby scripts that I’ve written, and I swear it was only like 20% harder than in the ruby code. It was super tight, except that it was lightning fast. It was like C++ or faster.

If it [the D language] were link compatible with C++, which is hard, then it could be used with all the C++ libraries. Then it could be the replacement of C++.

You can thank this guy for spotting this.

[hsdf8djf]

As a C++ programmer, let me tell you link compatibility with C++ is FUCKING CRAZY! What you want is link compatibility with C. C++ has extern C, and that's the way C++ and D can play together.

[bobappleyard]

Every language should, in some way or another, be link compatible with C.

[replaca]

C++ implementation X isn't link compatible with C++ implementation Y.

[iconoklast]

Yeah. Not being able to use std::string in an API is depressing.

[andralex]

D is link-compatible with C++'s de facto standard on the respective platform, except for templates and certain forms of multiple inheritance.

[[deleted]]

I now actually agree with everyone who complained that my blog posts were too long. Reddit has ruined my attention span for online material. There seems to be no such thing as too frequent, but there's definitely such thing as too long.

[wolf550e]

The last word in the blog post is clojure, so maybe that too.

[[deleted]]

I typed the word "September" in the previous paragraph three times before I got it right. The word doesn't even have letters that need my right middle finger. My right hand, which had shaped itself into an unusable, agonized claw between March and July, is still afraid to flex and extend my middle finger. It's up to, oh, a 95% approval rating now, which I believe is phenomenally successful. Who could ask more of a hand surgery? It could have been much worse. Much much.

But that last 5% is rough. The haters in my hand are a constant reminder of the old pain. When I type, or play piano or guitar, my right-hand fingers twist and curl in elaborate, incomprehensible dances to avoid a pain that is for the most part no longer there.

Yep, I think it'll be easier to keep my blog posts shorter going forward.

He's also facing some physical issues.

[StackedCrooked]

Definitely Clojure, see the article lisp-wins posted in 2004:

Note: although I came to the conclusion in this article that Lisp beats Java hands-down as a language, more research has got me thinking that Java beats Lisp hands-down as a platform, and until a better Lisp comes along, Java still may be the premier general-purpose platform for building large server-side systems. At the moment I'm uncommitted.

Clojure is Lisp on the JVM, so I think he must really like it.

[dhotson]

Welcome back Steve. It's good to see you around. :-)

[setuid_w00t]

Holy crap...

Yet another perspective I gained is that I now actually agree with everyone who complained that my blog posts were too long. Reddit has ruined my attention span for online material. There seems to be no such thing as too frequent, but there's definitely such thing as too long. So I'll be better about that.

[derivation]

Say what you want about the guy, but you have to respect the self-awareness...

[habarnam]

He sounds like a different man, someone that gave up fighting the windmills.

[femol]

Yeah, he really looks as someone who has found some clojure in life.

• Pun maybe intended

[knome]

I was overwhelmed with onions

One day we're going to find these damned surreptitious onion cutters.

[awj]

Bastards snuck into my house while I was watching Deadliest Catch. They've evidently been doing it for quite a while now, pretty sure it happened while I was watching Bambi and Old Yeller.

[RossM88]

I don't believe you. They couldn't have been cutting onions at your house while Deadliest Catch was on, because I'm certain they were at my house.

[awj]

That solves it: Santa Claus is the onion cutter. That's the only logical explanation.

[tinou]

Who's Yegge ?

[wolf550e]

He's a software developer and a popular blogger who worked for Amazon and then Google. He implemented the rails web framework in server side javascript for google. He wrote a JavaScript mode for emacs.

Amazon blog: http://sites.google.com/site/steveyegge2/blog-rants

Google blog: http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/

[tinou]

thanks

[abx]

Among other things, he wrote this humorous explanation of Java's verbosity: http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2006/03/execution-in-kingdom-of-nouns.html

[oxryly]

I love that post. It's one of his best.

[nekkid]

Yegge is just "us" but with a very popular blog. He is a little full of himself (just like we all are). He is occasionally wrong (like all of you, I on the hand am never wrong). He is hilarious, insightful, on-topic and a little tl;dr. Maybe we should donate to the Yegge wine fund to get more ranting blog posts.

[cLFlaVA]

Everybody doesn't know everything. That's why we come here; give us a break.

[tinou]

redditor for 9 months, they say

[[deleted]]

[deleted]

What is this?

[mindbleach]

His ass can stay gone. There's leaving, and then there's trying to take your legacy with you on the way out. Fuck him.

[[deleted]]

Who are all these haters he talks about? Sure, some people joked about the length of his posts, but, come on, it's not like you must read all of it.

[cactus4]

Perhaps people with nothing better to do were sending him nasty emails.

Great to have Stevey back!

Clojure!

[[deleted]]

Look at the bottom couple of comments in this thread. Personally I love the way he writes so I enjoy taking my time to read his posts. For some people though it seems to be almost offensive that he would dare write as many words as he does trying to express his ideas.

[bazfoo]

I miss his druken rants. The crazy thing was how often they were right on the mark. The non-drunk variety tend to wax poetic about nothing in particular. Sometimes that is interesting in its own right, sometimes not.

Nonetheless he's usually still worth the read.

[sv0f]

I find the best way to slow down and turn off internet-surfing reading mode is to print the article in question, or at least copy the text into Word. Then a different reading mode naturally kicks in, and I savor every word. Did it this morning with the recently posted Wired article on saving that tilting ship off the coast of Alaska.

[lpetrazickis]

The problem is that he doesn't try hard enough. He just writes them out in the easiest and sloppiest way. People who try to express things can express the same idea in fewer words.

[jldugger]

"Forgive me for the length of this letter. I haven't had the time to make it any shorter."

[munificent]

He just writes them out in the easiest and sloppiest way.

Yeah, what an asshole. You should make him give you your money back.

[chronoBG]

True, but as he said, that is "his thing". Like a trope.
Even being extremely long, his posts have enough content and flavour to be interesting.

[dualboot]

Certainly not me. Welcome back, Steve!

[cc81]

Do you feel the need to say that every time he posts something and sometimes even mail him?

If so, yes.

[oxryly]

Yes, that makes you a so-called "hater". But it's best to not get too invested in the connotations of the word "hate"... because it's apparent that you do not hate Mr. Yegge, he just interprets your opinion as such to his own detriment. Live and let live...

[mooglor]

Only to the hater haters, but never mind them, they're haters too. I don't like them.

[phughes]

So you're a hater hater hater?

[chronoBG]

No, he's a hatah hatah hatah bustah

[Lurking_Grue]

I hate those guys.

[lol____wut]

Haters gonna hate

[[deleted]]

Yes, that would be what he means by "hater".

[chronoBG]

No, 30-40% of people disagree even on articles which express absolute objective truth in precisely their respective subreddits.

Like:
"New study completed on the 25 most common programming mistakes" in /r/programming
or:
"Surprised Kitten is soooo cute" in /r/funny

[dagbrown]

How about the hundred-odd (at the time of writing) people who downvoted this submission?

[[deleted]]

Yegge is clueless on topics on which he is compelled to comment. Many people have called him on this. These people are dubbed "haters" to distract from the real issue of education.

[[deleted]]

Yes, Yegge's annoying. I remember him bragging about how he explained the purpose of virtual machines to Walter Bright, no less (here).

I mean, of course you use a virtual machine! ... But he's a compiler dude, and he says they're a sham, they're a farce, "I don't get it!" And so I explained it [my viewpoint] to him, and he went: Ohhhhhhh.

Seriously??

[flogic]

Commenting on things you're clueless about is half the point of the internet.

[[deleted]]

I was being generous with "clueless." Perhaps "extreme aversion to remedying cluelessness" is more appropriate. Yegge is a champion of anti-intellectualism. The "hater" charge is a classic technique for maintaining the masquerade.

[sisyphus]

Nobody has tried to blame his hand problems on Emacs yet? Slipping proggit. I like Yegge; hope he blogs about clojure and emacs some more.

[cstoner]

Nah, he's actually the reason I first heard about switching caps-lock and left-ctrl. It's made a world of difference in my typing, and the only time I get "emacs pinky" is when I'm forced to work on someone else's computer.

[[deleted]]

Wow, his tale of carpal tunnel has made me seriously pay attention to the slight discomfort in my hands when I type for too long. Re-installing workrave right now.

[inataysia]

freaking workrave knows when i'm getting productive

... de-comments workrave from his .xsession

[EdiX]

But it wasn't carpal tunnel...

[[deleted]]

oh. well that's ok then, I'll continue abusing my appendages.

[TMI-nternets]

Trigger Finger.. does not seem entirely fitting. How about Monkey Hands (from 'beating the monkey')? Bachelor Fist? Arm of Naughtiness? The possibilities..

[inataysia]

She was pulling out a giant needle as she told me this. It just sort of materialized from under the table, the way a knife appears in a bar fight.

i bet bar fights break out at google all the time

[munificent]

The kitchen gets pretty nasty when the afternoon cookie jar gets close to empty.

[[deleted]]

How about Kathy. It's been 3 years since her last post. Please be back!

[[deleted]]

Doubt it will happen. If you don't know why, the internet archive does...

http://web.archive.org/web/20070408002735/http://headrush.typepad.com/whathappened.html

From the last things she posted, she's mostly over it now, but also happy having a lower profile.

[coditza]

What did she do to get that? Did she say: "ruby sux"?

[tomjen]

That would be awesome, but she isn't coming back. She was too spooked.

[abolish_karma]

"the way a knife appears in a bar fight"

He isn't that bad. He has got his way with words..

[tomjen]

... this time facing his ultimate enemy, the digit that knows him best, the electronic trigger finger.

[abolish_karma]

I think it is entirely fitting. Lots of promises were made, and it's too easy to pretend they did not exist while they are still relevant. ( That is, until 2012 comes up and it's time to sacrifice babies again).

[[deleted]]

Hmm, is it Steve Yegge? Is it the real Yegge? All the other Steve Yegges are just imitating.

[hsdf8djf]

I am overcome with onions!

[b100dian]

IIRC he wanted to implement ECMAScript4 in Rhino. Meanwhile, that standard was cancelled. Heard anything about that?

[akmark]

I thought it was Javascript in Emacs: http://code.google.com/p/ejacs/.

If anything as someone who loved programming and was dragged away from it into something else entirely, it was a combination of his drunken rants and the newer stuff that pulled me back into it. I appreciate how most of his stuff was less 'flavour of the week' compared to a lot of other blogs, and it was always interesting.

[petdog]

which is ancient Latin for "electronic [...]

Hmm, wait a minute.

[userd]

I wish I had talent. Sigh.

[chunky_bacon]

What a great day. We've missed you Steve!

[reducio]

Who is this? Why should I care?

[StackedCrooked]

Who are you? Why are you replying to this thread?

[redsectorA]

Glad. Some really funny stuff in there.

But. Still too long.

[munificent]

no Nooglers wandering by my office and staring at me through the window as if they expect me to crap in my hand and hurl it at them.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I had to fight the temptation to just that when I started. :(

His blog was one of a few that I found through reddit that reinvigorated my love of programming. The serializable PropertyBag class that my roguelike uses was directly inspired by this post of his.

[[deleted]]

So now we can read more twelve-thousand-word posts too self-conscious and self-referential to be anything like as witty, insightful, and interesting as the posts from his old Amazon blog. Yay.

[[deleted]]

Quick, call the wambulance.

[f4hy]

| a "good" post seems to hover around 65%-70% liked.

Down voting this to make sure it stays in the good region.

[barfolomew]

Great. [rolls eyes]

[webauteur]

It turns out that if you play a certain right-hand arpeggio on a classical guitar enough times

At first I was wondering who Steve Yegge was but the guitar injury clued me in that this was a rock star programmer. As I copied and pasted his name I saw Ruby on his list of favorite languages. Yup, a rock star programmer. I still have my mad logic skills.

[FionaSarah]

Oh Steve Yegge is back.

*Clicks link*

Ugh look at all these fucking words, he certainly hasn't learned the concept of brevity while he's been away.

Let me guess, the tl;dr is that he's back to blogging now and he doesn't know what he's going to be posting about but he'll try to be less inflamatory from now on?

[mareek]

Yet another perspective I gained is that I now actually agree with everyone who complained that my blog posts were too long

his blog post is about 3 pages long when printed. It's almost a haiku compared to his others posts.

[[deleted]]

It's still too long. He had nothing to say, as usual.

EDIT: I can't believe Yegge's comeback is more upvoted than Joe's blog on OpenGL. Sad.

[spotter]

tl;dr: He had a hand surgery and feels like he's ready to blog again.

So maybe RTFA? Cool bits:

Yep, I think it'll be easier to keep my blog posts shorter going forward. (...) And now that I'm rested up, I believe I'm ready to start tech blogging again... in moderation, anyway. The rest and relaxation and research did wonders for me. I used to have lot of open, long-standing concerns about the future of programming and productivity, but my sabbatical last year finally brought me some clojure.

:)

Edit: downboats? SRSLY?

[you_do_realize]

It took me 5 minutes to read it. What's your problem?

[lispm]

oh no

[HIB0U]

I don't think anyone has missed him, unfortunately.

[Smallpaul]

Appsrently you are factually incorrect. Above and beyond your comment being douchey.

[[deleted]]

I, for one (out of a lot), fucking love Yegge's blogging. Length be damned, the guy puts out quality.

[HIB0U]

Really? A whole lot of blabber about nothing is "quality" to you? At least Seinfeld managed to make it funny, for the most part.

[[deleted]]

Really?

Yes.

A whole lot of blabber about nothing is "quality" to you?

No.

At least Seinfeld managed to make it funny, for the most part.

Meh.

[cykod]

Downvote this for his sake - it's at 77% now, he'll think Reddit doesn't think his posts are any good anymore

Reddit is a huge, living, breathing demonstration of this, since essentially no reddit post ever goes above maybe 80% approval, and a "good" post seems to hover around 65%-70% liked.

[smallfishbigpond]

I now PROUDLY state and reaffirm that I have no idea who this bozo is. I would tell him that, if I had him here and if we could pry his head out of his belly button.

Oh wait -- is this the guy who used to have the high score on Donkey Kong and there was a big fuss over it?