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
becoming clear early effort ending ten unix
Worse, by the early 1990s it was becoming clear that ten years of effort to commercialize proprietary Unix was ending in failure.
learning bugs problem
Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow (e.g., given a large enough beta-tester and co-developer base, almost every problem will be characterized quickly and the fix obvious to someone).
profound enlightenment use
Lisp is worth learning for the profound enlightenment experience you will have when you finally get it; that experience will make you a better programmer for the rest of your days, even if you never actually use Lisp itself a lot.
security-systems secret pseudo
A security system is only as secure as its secret. Beware of pseudo-secrets.
microsoft problem symptoms
Microsoft is not the problem. Microsoft is the symptom.
programming release customers
Release early. Release often. And listen to your customers.
technology machines firsts
Thompson and Ritchie were among the first to realize that hardware and compiler technology had become good enough that an entire operating system could be written in C, and by 1978 the whole environment had been successfully ported to several machines of different types.
layers alternatives language
Of course, C proved indispensible to the developers of all its alternatives. Dig down through enough implementation layers under any of the other languages surveyed here and you will find a core implemented in pure, portable C
delusion software persistent
Software is largely a service industry operating under the persistent but unfounded delusion that it is a manufacturing industry
python hell standards
Why the hell hasn't wxPython become the standard GUI for Python yet?
empires rebel hackers
Berkeley hackers liked to see themselves as rebels against soulless corporate empires.
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.