Hacker News Reader

I'll give a simple example. Do you think knowing how to write a lexer and parser means you know how to write the syntax of a language that will be pleasant to use? Because knowing the algorithms to do one does not mean you have the skills to do the other, which is a form of taste.

View on HN

It doesn’t necessarily mean you have the skills, but it can inform the process. I can’t think of a case where knowing your materials would be detrimental to working with them.

That's fair, it certainly helps. If you don't understand how all the parsing bits work you might make something that sucks to parse which can lead to confusing syntax. But it doesn't guarantee you can do the design phase.

Sometimes a little knowledge is more dangerous than ignorance.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com