A Costly Parade, by Why the Lucky Stiff, and that NodeBox pong game -- in Shoes

http://hackety.org/2008/11/21/aCostlyParade.html

by sc • 18 years ago

86 14 18 years ago

tel• 18 years ago

You know, forget Rails, forget Mongrel. I'll keep using Ruby for a long time because _why is here, making wonderful, beautiful toys.

iamwil• 18 years ago

I often wonder how he supports himself. Either he lives on little and spends his time making cool stuff and helping kids program, or he's actually a Rockerfeller.

Alternatively, he holds down a day job, and is just so prolific that it seems like he just makes shoes and hpricot all the time.

sc• 18 years ago

I wonder these things, too, but don't really think I want to know: his enigmatic presence is part of the fun

Locke• 18 years ago

He's so prolific that for a while I wondered if _why wasn't really a collection of people. But, he's just so consistently odd and unique (in a good way) that it's hard to imagine that there could be more than one _why.

(Although, I wonder how hard it would be to use markov chains to generate _why-like rambling rants)

toddcw• 18 years ago

I worked with him for about a year several years ago (before he got into Ruby). For the most part, his personality is just as you see him in his writing. He's very intelligent, which probably accounts to some degree for his prolific coding. I really doubt he's wealthy, though. He's too anti-establishment for much of that. Definitely a genuinely good guy, though.

rcoder• 18 years ago

Supporting yourself and still coding a lot of cool stuff to give away isn't really that hard. There are plenty of service, light tech support, or even desk jobs which only require a few hours a day worth of real concentration, and leave you alone with your thoughts the rest of the time.

Covering rent + groceries in some sleepy midwest town with decent broadband is do-able on minimum wage, if you don't mint having a small apartment and older computers.

The challenge is in living the kind of lifestyle that most HN readers have or aspire to: living in S.F., going out to nice restaurants + clubs with your hip, hacker friends, owning multiple nice computers + tech toys, and flying to conferences and vacations all over the world several times a year.

That stuff gets expensive, fast.

amix• 18 years ago

What a creative way to diss.

iron_ball• 18 years ago

To paraphrase Goodie Mob: Rubyists don't dance no mo'.

yawn• 18 years ago

Not being inside the Ruby community, I felt like I missed a lot. Was it really a dis?

qhoxie• 18 years ago

Yes, it was. None of the things said or insinuated were without reason. It was primarily a shame on you all type of commentary.

alex_c• 18 years ago

I have no idea what that was... but I loved it.

maximilian• 18 years ago

You should read why's guide to ruby. Its fantastic.

bradgessler• 18 years ago

Does this guy have a name? Or should I just call him.... "Y"

sammyo• 18 years ago

"Ergo, Zed is Hannah Montana."

Hello? I thought "Zed is dead", but now really, all that needed was an overt HCE reference to boost such a fine diatribe into the literary flame sphere.

A Costly Parade, by Why the Lucky Stiff, and that NodeBox pong game -- in Shoes

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