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Comment by black-tea | Hacker News Reader

I'm sure this was fun for the guy who submitted it but in the end just useless noise on the mailing list.

“So please don't stop. Yes, those trivial patches _are_ a bother. Damn, they are _horrible_. But at the same time, the devil is in the detail, and they are needed in the long run. Both the patches themselves, and the people that grew up on them.”

I'm sorry but there's no way the 4 year old learnt anything from this. Maybe the adult did, though. Is that the point?

She learned that her opinion is valued. She learned that it's ok to question things. She likely had a sense, based on the activity that followed, that she effected change in some way. I'm sure it was explained to her, and while of course she doesn't understand what a kernel or source code are, she surely had a sense of some positive accomplishment.

The world will become a better place if all kids get this golden treatment. I wish we could so easily push trivial changes to society but, in a very small way, this ripple in the ocean did.

"See this? We just need to change one little thing. There is a problem with the program and we can fix it: the president variable is orange. Let's work on that"

Exactly. My 3.5 year old could have noticed this (looks at my computer while I'm typing, and loves it somehow) and if they pointed it out I would have said "You're right! Let's fix it. Here you press that key. Great, we fixed it for us, but what about grandma? Should we fix it for her too?"

This would then lead to a kernel patch and they would feel incredibly happy about for as long as they remembered it (little kids love to help in any way).

And more importantly whole community learned from this.

She also learned that when you see something wrong, and you have the ability to fix it, it's a good thing to do so. Many big problems (speaking broadly here, not just about software engineering) really consist of such tiny things that aggregate, and can be tackled in a decentralized fashion if most people bothered to contribute just a little, even when it feels like the effort is minuscule and worthless.

Think of it as the equivalent of picking up a small piece of litter on the street, and throwing it into the nearby trash can.

I have a four year old. This patch was almost certainly submitted and entered by the parent.

Even 4 year olds comprehend much more than you seem to give them credit for. Do you think small children are somehow unable to understand things they are interested in if you explain to them on their level?

Maisa in this case probably learnt that there are grown-up text things like books on the computer, and it is a big thing if things do not line up and a letter is "sad". It is important to computers and people using computers.

And then to fix it for other people so that their "s" is not sad you write a letter with a computer and explain how they can fix it.

It might be interesting to hear her own memories of this, if she still remembers the episode.

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