This is interesting to hear. I thought Zed's book on C programming was reasonably good but I lost an awful lot of respect for him with his strange and nearly incomprehensible tirades against Python 3.
Re:How do I know if I'm good at programming?
by zedshaw on Tuesday July 25, 2017 @10:12AM
(#14847819)
LOL. An account with these as the only comments and no submissions? Man this place is so weird. It's like you're at a party, and then some guy can scream at you from across the room while wearing a Richard Nixon mask and everyone goes "Oh yeah that is true." Never questioning why the guy is wearing a mask at a party.
Anyway, I think you need to look up the words "tirade" and "incomprehensible"
Re:How do I know if I'm good at programming?
by Zenbit_UX on Monday July 31, 2017 @07:51PM
(#14896842)
Looks like you got some haters... The only reason to make a throw away in order to bash you - deservedly or not I don't know - is because you know this person and they don't want to remove their Nixon mask and risk a real life confrontation.
tldr: Welcome to the Internet
Re:How do I know if I'm good at programming?
by DC-3 on Wednesday August 02, 2017 @11:14AM
(#14911177)
I did not create this account as a throwaway. I just don't have the inclination to comment on HN much and was lurking for a long time until recently. As proof I point you to my Reddit account of the same name which has a great deal of activity and which is reasonably well recognised and regarded in certain communities. I say this to demonstrate that I am not creating burner personas for the sole purpose of starting flame wars - but I did think it was worth stating in this discussion that Zed has succeeded in discrediting himself in some programming circles.
Re:How do I know if I'm good at programming?
by celticninja on Sunday July 23, 2017 @12:39PM
(#14833092)
It seems like he is over his python 3 hate now.
Re:How do I know if I'm good at programming?
by zedshaw on Tuesday July 25, 2017 @10:23AM
(#14847901)
Someone linked me here asking me how I can write good quality code so fast so I thought I would come and drop a comment just in case other people read this and fall prey to the "HN must be true" virus.
I have no idea if I write code better or faster than other people. Maybe I do, but I always think that I don't write very good code most of the time so I have to be extra careful. I spent a lot of time writing code very slowly and being extra careful so that I could make sure it's good quality. I guess after focusing on quality for so long I just got faster at it compared to others. But, I'm going to guess that I actually am not much faster than other people.
Re:How do I know if I'm good at programming?
by nickthemagicman on Sunday July 23, 2017 @11:39AM
(#14832738)
Yeah this was my thought too. He described the two types of Junior or intermediate programmer but there's a third type that writes great software extremely fast. I've worked with them before.
Re:How do I know if I'm good at programming?
by owebmaster on Sunday July 23, 2017 @11:32PM
(#14835706)
Like git. The first commit talk by itself: it was made using git. Software that works.
Looking through some repositories of programs I like, some of them were prototyped in very little time, but with a surprisingly excellent first revision.
I had the pleasure to work with Zed Shaw quite some time ago, and even though his code might not be perfect, he writes a lot better code than the vast majority, in a lot less time.