Comments on: Backatcha, Mr Webb http://cheerleader.yoz.com/2003/05/backatcha-mr-webb.html I came here to apologise and eat biscuits, and I'm all out of biscuits Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:22:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Matt Jones http://cheerleader.yoz.com/2003/05/backatcha-mr-webb.html#comment-267 Matt Jones Mon, 12 May 2003 01:22:48 +0000 http://cheertest.yoz.com/?p=101#comment-267 neal stephenson, in the beginning was the CLI: 14.13 The triad of editor, compiler, and linker, taken together, form the core of a software development system. Now, it is possible to spend a lot of money on shrink-wrapped development systems with lovely graphical user interfaces and various ergonomic enhancements. In some cases it might even be a good and reasonable way to spend money. But on this side of the road, as it were, the very best software is usually the free stuff. Editor, compiler and linker are to hackers what ponies, stirrups, and archery sets were to the Mongols. Hackers live in the saddle, and hack on their own tools even while they are using them to create new applications. It is quite inconceivable that superior hacking tools could have been created from a blank sheet of paper by product engineers. Even if they are the brightest engineers in the world they are simply outnumbered. neal stephenson, in the beginning was the CLI:
14.13
The triad of editor, compiler, and linker, taken together, form the core of a software development system. Now, it is possible to spend a lot of money on shrink-wrapped development systems with lovely graphical user interfaces and various ergonomic enhancements. In some cases it might even be a good and reasonable way to spend money. But on this side of the road, as it were, the very best software is usually the free stuff. Editor, compiler and linker are to hackers what ponies, stirrups, and archery sets were to the Mongols. Hackers live in the saddle, and hack on their own tools even while they are using them to create new applications. It is quite inconceivable that superior hacking tools could have been created from a blank sheet of paper by product engineers. Even if they are the brightest engineers in the world they are simply outnumbered.

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