I'm going to suggest that polyglot literate programming would be the most metamodern (another term for post-postmodern) take, with humor and self criticizing progress journaling thrown in.
Yeah, the paper provides good insight into the phenomenon. Doug also gives a really good presentation on the same material: https://youtu.be/yL_-1d9OSdk
The author also has some other hilarious articles:
- How to get over your Impostor Syndrome and become a Professional Fraudster
- Programmers, Please Stop Referring to your Significant Others as "Sugar Babies," You are Not That Rich (Also, They are Not That Hot)
- How to Reassert Dominance in the Zoom Era as a Tech Bro
- Book Review: 95 JavaScript Theses - I’ve been reading a lot of JavaScript books lately, and I have to say that "95 JavaScript Theses" is the best thing since the Protestant reformation.
As both the guilty party behind "I no longer build software" and the keeper of some chickens, I'd just like to suggest that anyone who wants to get out of software strongly consider woodworking over becoming a chicken.
I still have all ten fingers.
For comparison, we have acquired fifteen chickens over the last two and a half years and now have five. We lost two to a bear that broke into the coop[0], turned an aggressive rooster into soup, and the rest to foxes. They mostly stay cooped up lately unless we're around :-/
EDITED TO ADD:
Oh yeah, I really do still write code from time to time!
This c̶l̶i̶c̶k̶chickbait article fails to answer the question on why the programmer crossed the road to become a chicken, and whether they went from programmer → egg → chicken, or just programmer → chicken.
This is from the same guy who wrote the absolutely wonderful NAND gate article[1] that also featured on HN about a year ago (and was taken surprisingly serious) [2].
It’s fascinating because it (inadvertently, maybe) shows that you can’t do satire without understanding the topic. The author seemingly set off to make fun of digital something, couldn’t grok it, and settled for documenting an afternoon sort of trying.
The nerds missed the joke and jumped in wanting to help, marking one of the first times I’ve seen this dynamic play out at this level of engagement in web space, although it happens all the time irl.
The author even comments he was trying to capture the “saudade” of trying to understand something using web sources.
If anyone else struggles with the concept of "saudade", the Portuguese entry to this year's Eurovision Song Contest explains it beautifully: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQul-rkcGPQ
In all seriousness, part of me wants to replace all coding questions in future interviews with the code from this article. It isn't hard to follow, it just looks absurd. So if people can follow it, they can code -- No more FizzBuzz - just CluckCluckity.
That’s likely ret-conning the joke - first, the earliest references (mid 1800s) say “to get on the other side” which doesn’t track to the dark interpretation as well.
Also, in the mid 1800s, crossing a road wouldn’t pose any danger to a chicken. A railroad track - yes, a factory floor - sure, but a road? Used mostly for foot or carriage traffic? No danger whatsoever - a chicken can move more than fast enough to get out of the way of even a quickly driven carriage.
Third, and most importantly, it was a common minstrel show line, and minstrel shows were filled with anti-humor.
Sometimes the easiest and most obvious answer is actually the right one.
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[ 24.9 ms ] story [ 3744 ms ] threadhttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=unW7UYXSQNY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czZSkvulCiE
The industry I'm in, it's very weird. Why did I choose this life, again?
Cheep cheep cheep.
I no longer build software - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24541964
Why software engineers like woodworking - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31687378
Death of a Programmer, Life of a Farmer - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9492110
---
The author also has some other hilarious articles:
- How to get over your Impostor Syndrome and become a Professional Fraudster
- Programmers, Please Stop Referring to your Significant Others as "Sugar Babies," You are Not That Rich (Also, They are Not That Hot)
- How to Reassert Dominance in the Zoom Era as a Tech Bro
- Book Review: 95 JavaScript Theses - I’ve been reading a lot of JavaScript books lately, and I have to say that "95 JavaScript Theses" is the best thing since the Protestant reformation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chicken_and_the_Pig
https://youtu.be/8Gi3MLBLMUE
I still have all ten fingers.
For comparison, we have acquired fifteen chickens over the last two and a half years and now have five. We lost two to a bear that broke into the coop[0], turned an aggressive rooster into soup, and the rest to foxes. They mostly stay cooped up lately unless we're around :-/
EDITED TO ADD:
Oh yeah, I really do still write code from time to time!
https://github.com/longwalkwoodworking
[0] The coop now has an electric fence around it like some kind of cock-a-doodle-gulag.
Eat, Pray, Herd. How an I.T. Guy Found Career Happiness Owning 78 Camels https://www.wsj.com/articles/camel-herder-career-change-cana...
> Cluckity cluck Cluck-cluck-cluck Bwak pukaaak Bwak Cluck. Cluck-a-buh-gawk Bwak Waaak Bok Waaak Cluck-cluck-cluck. Cluckity Cock-a-doodle-doo!
I really did not expect to learn anything here, of all places.
[1]:https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5326511
[1] https://sebastiancarlos.medium.com/the-nand-gate-one-gate-to...
[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28756727
The nerds missed the joke and jumped in wanting to help, marking one of the first times I’ve seen this dynamic play out at this level of engagement in web space, although it happens all the time irl.
The author even comments he was trying to capture the “saudade” of trying to understand something using web sources.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_(Scheme_implementation...
"Why did the chicken cross the road?"
"To get to the other side!"
Is not just a stupid anti-joke about crossing the road, it is a dark joke about a chicken going to the other side of life (death).
Also, in the mid 1800s, crossing a road wouldn’t pose any danger to a chicken. A railroad track - yes, a factory floor - sure, but a road? Used mostly for foot or carriage traffic? No danger whatsoever - a chicken can move more than fast enough to get out of the way of even a quickly driven carriage.
Third, and most importantly, it was a common minstrel show line, and minstrel shows were filled with anti-humor.
Sometimes the easiest and most obvious answer is actually the right one.