Eric S. Raymond
Eric S. Raymond
Eric Steven Raymond, often referred to as ESR, is an American software developer, author of the widely cited 1997 essay and 1999 book The Cathedral and the Bazaar and other works, and open-source software advocate. He wrote a guidebook for the Roguelike game NetHack. In the 1990s, he edited and updated the Jargon File, currently in print as the The New Hacker's Dictionary...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth4 December 1957
CountryUnited States of America
polish prototype
Prototype, then polish. Get it working before you optimize it
machines preference expensive
Programmer time is expensive; conserve it in preference to machine time
homework substitutes
Grovelling is not a substitute for doing your homework.
internet defeat free-speech
Equally, the Internet interprets attempts at proprietary control as threats and mobilizes to defeat them.
firsts computer speed
The ARPAnet was the first transcontinental, high-speed computer network.
iphone shapes trouble
The iPhone brand is in worse shape than I thought was even possible. And the implications of that are huge. ... The iPhone is in deep trouble.
fun mad people
We hackers are a playful bunch; we'll hack anything, including language, if it looks like fun (thus our tropism for puns). Deep down, we like confusing people who are stuffier and less mentally agile than we are, especially when they're bosses. There's a little bit of the mad scientist in all hackers, ready to discombobulate the world and flip authority the finger - especially if we can do it with snazzy special effects.
special asking agents
And for any agents or proxy of the regime interested in asking me questions face to face, I've got some bullets slathered in pork fat to make you feel extra special welcome.
senior today linux
Today I am one of the senior technical cadre that makes the Internet work, and a core Linux and open-source developer.
good-work very-good software
Every good work of software starts by scratching a developers personal itch.
writing bridges simplicity
Ugly programs are like ugly suspension bridges: they're much more liable to collapse than pretty ones, because the way humans (especially engineer-humans) perceive beauty is intimately related to our ability to process and understand complexity. A language that makes it hard to write elegant code makes it hard to write good code.
machines faces different
If Unix could present the same face, the same capabilities, on machines of many different types, it could serve as a common software environment for all of them.
interesting problem programming
To solve an interesting problem, start by finding a problem that is interesting to you.
problem realizing programming
Often, the most striking and innovative solutions come from realizing that your concept of the problem was wrong.