It's not hard to sympathize with Verna's feelings. These are all based on a similar set of philosophical guideposts: maximal output for minimal input, maximal possibilities of self-expression from a minimal set of generative rules, and understanding the deep "essence" of the craft, so that when you add your own contributions, it is by finding the "essence" of the addition and harmonizing it with the essence of existing work. And these are appealing because they give the feeling of tremendous power and the sky being the limit.
But the real world runs on the philosophy of Visual Basic, punk rock, and mixed martial arts, which are all based on a different set of philosophical guideposts: a) focus on practical solutions to real world problems; b) make getting started as easy as possible for everyone; c) it doesn't matter if added components harmonize with the original; what matters is if they contribute significant value on points a) and b), i.e., it's okay to get messy.
Maybe some of you remember Didier Verna's Lisp, Jazz, Aikido: https://www.didierverna.com/blog/index.php?post/2007/04/03/L...
It's not hard to sympathize with Verna's feelings. These are all based on a similar set of philosophical guideposts: maximal output for minimal input, maximal possibilities of self-expression from a minimal set of generative rules, and understanding the deep "essence" of the craft, so that when you add your own contributions, it is by finding the "essence" of the addition and harmonizing it with the essence of existing work. And these are appealing because they give the feeling of tremendous power and the sky being the limit.
But the real world runs on the philosophy of Visual Basic, punk rock, and mixed martial arts, which are all based on a different set of philosophical guideposts: a) focus on practical solutions to real world problems; b) make getting started as easy as possible for everyone; c) it doesn't matter if added components harmonize with the original; what matters is if they contribute significant value on points a) and b), i.e., it's okay to get messy.