One thing that struck me in reading all the resulting comments was the several different copies of an apparently famous quote that goes something like. I just read an interview with jamie in the book coders at work, by peter seibel. Jamie zawinski, one of the browsers earliest developers. Whilst reading ayende rahiens blog the other day i find that he was also attributed with that memorable quote about regular expressions some people, when confronted with a problem, think i know, ill use regular expressions. Jamie zawinski a 50%good solution that people actually have solves more problems and survives longer than a 99% solution that nobody has because its in. Coders at work jamie zawinski ill be perfectly honest and admit that until joel spolskys duct tape programmer blog, id never heard of jamie zawinski.
Really my take is that the duct tape programmer is the type to giterdone. Its apparently quite well known, so it floors me that this is the first ive seen it. Sociolinguistics is the study of the different ways in which various groups of people use language. There have been reports about him expressing his anger by throwing a chair across a conference room.
Reflections on the craft of programming kindle edition by seibel, peter. Avram joel spolsky born 1965 is a software engineer and writer. They didnt have a specific product in mind, but were motivated to start the kind of software company where they would want to workone where programmers were the stars. Oct 05, 2009 unit testing in coders at work in his now infamous blog post the duct tape programmer, joel spolsky quoted jamie zawinski from my interview with him in coders at work talking about how they didnt use many unit tests when developing netscape. Unit testing in coders at work a billion monkeys cant. But it answers that question with less satisfaction. Uncle bob says he agrees with most of it, if you ignore the details. Jamie zawinski a 50%good solution that people actually have solves more problems and survives longer than a 99% solution that nobody has because its in your lab where youre endlessly polishing the damn thing. Last thursday joel spolsky posted an article on his blog, the duct tape programmer, based on my interview with jamie zawinski in coders at work. The footage was taken during 1998 while zawinski was still working for netscape in which he is portrayed as a pivotal person in the company. Sep 26, 2009 the netscape browser was built by a team of people including jamie zawinski not one guy hacking in a garage.
Over the years, ive learned a lot more about schedules and estimates. Smart and gets things done tells you everything you need to know about attracting, recruiting, interviewing and hiring great programmers. He is the kind of programmer who is hard at work building the future, and making useful things so that people can do stuff. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading coders at work. All entries should already have associated articles. Itas joels posts often dosparked quite a bit of commentary on the programming web, eliciting responses from uncle bob martin and tim bray and hundreds of comments on sites like the programming reddit and hackernews. Pro tools users would prefer bug fixes rather than new. He later founded fog creek software in 2000 and launched the joel on.
This is a list of programmers notable for their contributions to software, either as original author or architect, or for later additions. Lessons from 6 software rewrite stories herb caudill. Oct 25, 2016 programmer jamie zawinski has created a digital rendering of the infinite, hexagonal library that is the subject and setting of jorge luis borgess short story the library of babel. Sep 28, 2009 last thursday joel spolsky posted an article on his blog, the duct tape programmer, based on my interview with jamie zawinski in coders at work. Nobody can disagree with this, but i bet you that joel and rob have very different ways of defining shit in the software world.
But then, he goes on to wax lyrical about jamie zawinski, who is, to use joels words, the pretty boy of software development. When i attended a party thrown by joel spolsky at his apartment, i got to browse through his library. And on diverse and occasionally related matters that will prove of interest to software developers, designers, and managers, and to. Joel spolskys concise guide to finding the best technical talent. It explores how sociolinguistics is linked to other disciplines such as history, politics and gender studies. Joel spolsky, netscape is in some ways the poster child for the dangers of. American free software movement activist and programmer. Why you should use default methods in java 8 interfaces. Jamie zawinski is what i would call a ducttape programmer. For rob martin, shit is software that wasnt designed with tdd and that doesnt have 100% test coverage. And for small apps that dont have a future, thats fine.
In the early days of the web, he hacked perl for mother jones and organic online. He wrote netscape navigator in the 1990s and is joels hero becauseget thishe didnt write unit tests. Share jamie zawinski quotations about running, focus and design. This article remains here for archival purposes, but please dont read it. He later founded fog creek software in 2000 and launched the joel on software blog. Joel spolsky is one of the most thoughtful writers on software development. Source of the famous now you have two problems quote. He maintains the xscreensaver project which provides screenblanking for mac os x and for unix and unixlike computer operating systems using the x window system. In addition, zawinski says he came up with the name mozilla in a staff meeting. Joel spolsky is the founder and ceo of fog creek software in new york city and the host of the blog joel on software.
Joel spolsky, cofounder, fog creek software joel spolsky founded fog creek software with his friend michael pryor in 2000. Beginnings to 1600 is a very alternative history that points even more than most histories of the novel to the question of what defines the genre. World heritage encyclopedia, the aggregation of the largest online encyclopedias available, and the most definitive. In his now infamous blog post the duct tape programmer, joel spolsky quoted jamie zawinski from my interview with him in coders at work talking about how they didnt use many unit tests when developing netscape. The cofounder of the online programming hub stack overflow shares his thoughts on to forge a career as a successful software engineer. In most of the english speaking world it is not considered polite to open letters to a mr.
Joel spolsky on joel on software coders at work should inspire readers to learn about the wider. Lessons from 6 software rewrite stories herb caudill medium. Ill be perfectly honest and admit that until joel spolsky s duct tape programmer blog, id never heard of jamie zawinski. Sep 23, 2009 jamie zawinski is what i would call a ducttape programmer.
A newer, far better method for producing accurate software schedules painlessly is evidencebased scheduling. As a coder i bought this because joel spolsky said i should. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. He is the guy you want on your team building gocarts, because he has two favorite tools. Andrew hunt and david thomas quotes about software. He is the kind of programmer who is hard at work building the future, and making useful. Joel on software the duct tape programmer by joel spolsky wednesday, september 23, 2009 jamie zawinski is what i would call a ducttape programmer. In 2000, zawinski starred in the 60minutelong pbs documentary code rush. This book provides a brief yet comprehensive introduction to the field. Wherein a warning is delivered by jamie zawinski, april 18, 2004. Zawinskis early career included stints with scott fahlmans lisp research group at carnegie mellon university, expert technologies, inc. This book is just a bunch of interviews with some programmers you might recognize and some you may not. Share joel spolsky quotations about values, writing and design. Last october, the northeast us was plastered with ads for.
He is the author of joel on software, a blog on software development, and the creator of the project management software trello. He maintains the xscreensaver project which provides screenblanking for mac os x and for unix and unixlike computer operating systems using the x. Joel spolskys latest blog post is entitled the duct tape programmer and is getting a lot of attention out there. Programmer jamie zawinski has created a digital rendering of the infinite, hexagonal library that is the subject and setting of jorge luis borgess short story the library of babel. Lisp hacker, early netscape developer, and nightclub owner jamie zawinski, a.
In his book, joel spolsky explains why it is such a big mistake. Jamie zawinski is a lisp programmer, but most of his projects are written in perl 7 and c. For rob martin, shit is software that wasnt designed. Read joel spolskys blog post here where he talks about jamie zawinskis philosophy i tend to agree with a lot of that. Joel spolsky cofounder of fog creek software and stack overflow quentin staffordfraser author of original vnc viewer, first windows vnc server, client program for the first webcam richard stallman emacs, gcc, gdb, founder and pioneer of gnu project, terminalindependent io pioneer on. A page turner, just like harry potter for the technically minded. May 10, 2016 the cofounder of the online programming hub stack overflow shares his thoughts on to forge a career as a successful software engineer. Ill be perfectly honest and admit that until joel spolskys duct tape programmer blog, id never heard of jamie zawinski. The duct tape vs clean code juxtaposition was brought in by spolsky and uncle bob, not by jwz or seibel. Joel spolsky founder of stack overflow, trello, and fog creek software now glitch.
The netscape browser was built by a team of people including jamie zawinski not one guy hacking in a garage. James werner zawinski born november 3, 1968, commonly known as jwz, is an american. Jun 03, 2009 when i attended a party thrown by joel spolsky at his apartment, i got to browse through his library. Feb 19, 2019 lessons from 6 software rewrite stories.
Joels library was somewhat bigger and better organized than mine, but with a significant overlap. James werner zawinski born november 3, 1968, commonly known as jwz, is an american computer programmer with contributions to the free software projects mozilla and xemacs, and early versions of the netscape navigator web browser. Lucid decided to use gnu emacs as the text editor for. For joel spolsky and jamie zawinski, shit is a product that is buggy or unusable. An attempt to 3d model jorge luis borgess library of babel. If you cant convince one other person that this is something to devote. I have expanded in more details on this topic in my book, so i wont. Almost two decades ago, joel spolsky excoriated netscape for rewriting their. For joel spolsky and jamie zawinski, shit is a product that is buggy or.
All 362 characters in coders are listed by chapter with character descriptions included. Extra thanks also go to peter norvig and jamie zawinski who, in. Peter seibel is a serious developer of long standing. Novels really start when an important technology the printing press allows novelists to respond to one another. Uncle bob martin, chiming in to say that spolsky posting was right in general but wrong in almost all his specific claims and criticisms, was particularly riled by.
Feb 01, 2008 joel spolsky is the founder and ceo of fog creek software in new york city and the host of the blog joel on software. Itas joel s posts often dosparked quite a bit of commentary on the programming web, eliciting responses from uncle bob martin and tim bray and hundreds of comments on sites like the programming reddit and hackernews. He was a program manager on the microsoft excel team between 1991 and 1994. Whilst reading ayende rahiens blog the other day i find that he was also attributed with that memorable quote about regular expressions. The truth is that the book is an exceptionally good piece of technologyeasy to read, portable, durable, and. Jamie zawinski, one of the browsers earliest developers, explains. In our research about bug fixes we came across an article by joel spolsky, who a software developer in new york city. Apress and friends of ed books may be purchased in bulk for academic, corporate, or promotional.
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