I don't understand this guy, no pun intended. First he writes the lambda papers and co-designs Scheme with Sussman. Then he goes and joins Sun to work on Java. Did he hit his head so hard and lost all intelligence? Did he make a pact with the devil? Is it a tarp? I'm confused.
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Anonymous2007-06-27 16:10 ID:vq6pVBtL
No, he just probably understood the big picture. You can't take the unwashed masses of mediocre programmers from the stone age to lambda enlightenment in one big step, and even Java in all its suckiness is a step to the right direction from, let's say the mental vomiting that is C++. Actually, I think there is a famous Guy Steele quote about this, in b4 which.
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C++ Java Satori
Looks like he's failing it. Java is marginally better than C++, and still left of "piece of shit". If mediocre programmers with little hope do Java, they'll fuck up their last neuron all hope that they'll one day become good will be lost. Java fucks with people's minds, and makes people hate their job and quit to become gardeners.
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Anonymous2007-06-27 16:35 ID:Rj01uDMV
Perhaps he just needs money?
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Anonymous2007-06-27 16:41 ID:vq6pVBtL
>>3
But the Java era is slowly coming to an end. Python, Ruby and other dynamic languages recycling novel '70s ideas are already the next big thing for the general programmer, and Microsoft is doing its best to capture as many Java programmers as possible to C# camp (the latest version of which seems to include surprisingly many functional features).
Not that this has anything to do with Guy Steele, but I guess the slow evolution of general programming populace was his original reasoning.
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Anonymous2007-06-27 22:02 ID:upbIq6pQ
the quote is something like
"We were after the C++ programmers. We managed to drag them halfway to lisp. aren't you happy?"
The haskell dudes did the same with c#, as they said, "selling their souls to OOP rescue the average programmers"