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Arthur Whitney, author of A+,k and kdb/q always starts from scratch when he develops a new version of his db. From scratch means throwing away even the lowest-level routines like basic string operations and low-level file i/o.

And the source code is bizarre but... works for him.

If what you do over and over again is throw away your work with the goal of writing a better thing, then you can get really good at writing new things. It’s a clever way to think about practice.

Man i'd love to do that. Explore game dev with different languages. Try and code a fresh web game engine purely using webgl. Naturally i get busy with other things :)

He's certainly not afraid to leave his comfort zone and try something completely tangental, like making rockets or working with VR hardware.

He's always been humble, engaging, friendly, and most of all, passionate about what he does without becoming fanatical about it.