Coding Horror: That Means It's Working

> So, to the extent that I can become a conduit for other programmers to have that same epiphany [that "you are your own worst enemy" and "everything [you] write sucks."] in their own programming careers, that means it's working.

There are a couple of problems with this.

First, it's possible to aspire to a higher level of quality than that. You don't get there without lots of self-criticism, but you can get there. Wietse Venema, Dan Bernstein, Edsger Dijkstra, Alan Kay. It isn't always practical, but it is definitely possible.

Second, Jeff is so cartoonishly idiotic that it's hard to identify with him. Brian Gianforcaro is some kind of Zen Master of humility. If he wants to show people that they should criticize themselves, I think writing total bullshit the way you do is the wrong way to do it. Instead, people congratulate themselves on their intelligence: "I thought I wasn't very smart, but compared to this guy, I'm a genius!"

The tipping point between amateurs and professionals (what happened to average?) is probably not empty platitudes and a sweeping disdain for one's code. And sorry, Jeff, I blog mostly to help people. The rest of the time I'm just looking for some catharsis. I also don't have Google Alerts for my name or any of that nonsense.

So, to the extent that I can become a conduit for other programmers to have that same epiphany in their own programming careers, that means it's working.

That means what is working? Bolding something doesn't mean it magically makes sense. I don't try to make it a habit of engaging in ad hominem attacks, but if everything I hated about Jeff Atwood was something I hated about myself, I'd have thrown in the towel on programming a long time ago.

As usual, Jeff finishes by confirming that the whole post was a waste of your time, but this time it's a bit novel: an admission that he's a troll!

http://blog.wekeroad.com/blog/nothing-to-say/

I can see that most of us here at HN do not like most of Atwood's posts which are silly and ridiculous. However, I can also see that almost all of his posts earn more points than some other good articles. Wondering why ?!

By the way, this link has just 2 points now !!