(Warning – this post is about programming culture. [I have annotated it with suitable clarifications for the non-technical reader])
I love the internet. I love it because I’m able to eavesdrop on the best programmers and software engineers in the world.
It gives me stories like this one. [Please don't follow this link unless you like reading programming mailing lists]
Here we have an eager and well intentioned programmer [He's a young gun, a newbie] who is lobbying for the use of a new programming language on the project. Unfortunately, he’s fallen into a den of grizzled systems programmers [dinosaurs] which includes at least one world class engineer. They’re using their language of choice for a reason and show relatively little mercy in dispatching his push for change.
The thread follows up with a language designer taking the opportunity to plug his own systems language and argue its merits. He’s advertising (polite advocacy, but still advertising) and some interesting [really boring] discussion follows.
There’s a lot of good stuff in that thread, but for me the most beautiful gem is found in this post:
Anecdotal evidence _is_ hard facts. That’s what experience is all about.
So beautiful. When someone with experience tells you, “Doing that will hurt.” it’s a hard fact of life.
On a side note there’s the interesting position taken by Linus Torvalds – he (speaking for the project) is interested in attracting programmers who think in a low-level fashion. I would say:
- Choice of programming language really doesn’t matter.
- How people think is what matters.
- Ergo, choice of programming language really matters.
[Wow, three really boring technical posts in a row on The Happy Moron. It must be Christmas 
]