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Whyday is Friday

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128 pointsAccordionGuy29 comments

This makes me happy. I think the python community could use a dose of whimsy as well. At work we're having a Free Friday that was pre-planned, but lines up well with Why Day. I think it's time to do something awesomely unorthodox.

Just need to stretch my brain in that direction, it's been too long.

Exactly. Beeing a python dev, I definitely get jealous by the creativity shown by the Ruby community.

Call me shallow or insensitive, but _why's "poignant guide to Ruby" never did much for me. It was certainly whimsical I suppose.

I believe it was J. Michael Straczynski who once pointed out that even Shakespeare's work probably only achieves a 50% approval rating.

There's nothing wrong with having taste, and having some things that appeal to you and some that do not.

Of course, when people gather to honor things you dislike it is polite to quietly walk away. It is generally rude to interfere with their fun, unless innocent kittens are being injured or there's some other extenuating circumstance.

Additionally, to quote _why: "When you don’t create things, you become defined by your tastes rather than ability. Your tastes only narrow and exclude people. So create."

The poignant guide was whimsical until chapter 6, at which point _why becomes the true "bipolar artist programmer". It's beautiful, in its own terrifying way.

I used it as my first introduction to Ruby, and it was perfectly suited for that. Easy to read, whimsical, and it actually managed to communicate the joy of programming. I've been recommending it to friends who don't know any programming languages for a while. (For context, when I read it I already knew C, Bash scripting, and bits of PHP and Python).

I definitely support _why's ideas, particularly teaching programming to children. However, I couldn't stand the poignant guide. I actually tried to learn Ruby before Python (my favorite/best language now), but the style of the poignant guide deterred me from the language.

_why isn't a recluse. I thought he just didn't want strangers poking around his private life, and quit when people wouldn't stop prying. That's not really like Hughes, or Salinger, or even Bill Watterson.

You have to admit that his sudden disappearance was a little strange. OK, he didn't want his real name known; understandable. But -- as much as I miss him -- I'll never fully understand why he would shut down most/all his sites and nearly deprive us innocent fans of all his previous work. That smacks more of a hissy fit than a logical decision about personal privacy.

Net net, entrance to exit inclusive, _why has been a win for the Ruby community; an asset, even in his absence.

Respectfully, and notably like myself, I can't see comparable contributions from Steve Abatangle. I looked. Maybe I missed them; if so, I'm sorry.

If I didn't, though, let me suggest that you be more cautious about attributing "hissy fits" to people who clearly bent over backwards to help other people, just because they removed their own web pages without warning you first.

You're right, I have not contributed to the degree that _Why did. I think you misunderstand my point, though. When you do contribute to a high degree, and people begin to use and depend on your work, then it's not especially cool to just take it all away in a huff. _Why didn't just remove his web pages; he took a lot of his code with him. People managed to put up mirrors and otherwise reproduce what he took.

_Why is indeed a win for Ruby. I'm sorry he's gone, and I wish he had not. I also wish he'd chosen not to leave in the manner that he did -- whether you call that a "hissy fit" or just an abrupt exit.

Seeing as we don't know the reason for the disappearance, everything people say about his motives is pure speculation.

After reading this I started reading the poignant guide, and I came as close to tears as I've been in a long time. This book is a treasure and after reading a few 'chapters' I already know that this is one of my favorite books

Given there are pictures of _why, how is it possible that no one knows (and has revealed) his real name?

I'm not asking because I want to know–it just seems odd in this day and age that someone actually could remain anonymous (especially someone in technology circles).

someone did that two years ago, @ which point _why packed up and went home.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=773108

His real identity becoming more widely known quite possibly had something to do with his disappearance.

What I find amazing about _why is not that he was able to use an assumed identity for so long, but that people who knew his real identity kept it under wraps because they enjoyed his contribution so much. Kind of like Santa Claus.

I can't imagine Why's happy about this annual tribute by his fans.

Still, it would be a shame if his contributions were forgotten. The link in the article preserves about all of it: http://viewsourcecode.org/why/

Or he really appreciates it, we'll never know either way, but in any case _why's opinion about online happenings in 2010+ is pretty much null and void at this point.

Incase anyone was wondering, it seems like this was one reason _why chose to leave:

http://www.rubyinside.com/nokogiri-ruby-html-parser-and-xml-...

(_why wrote Hpricot. Imagine how that post must've felt from his perspective.)

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=774170

I can't help but doubt it; did you see the link in that very article about "Hpricot striking back"? As I recall, _why seemed pretty good-humored about it (but human memory is quite fallible).

Before disappearing, he posted at least two tweets lamenting bitrot and the short lifespan of code.

His conclusion was that if you wanted your code to last, you had to write games, since people make huge efforts to preserve them through time (emulation, etc...).

> His conclusion was that if you wanted your code to last, you had to write games, since people make huge efforts to preserve them through time (emulation, etc...).

Wonder if he'll reappear someday with a highly-original game like Dwarf Fortress or Minecraft? I bet he could make something awesome.

As awesome the _why's guide to ruby, is we shoudnt forget other things like Shoes,Hackety hack,camping among other things _why has contributed. BTW any one has read "nobody knowns shoes?" It is all a worth while read.

Leah Culver is really hot.

That's just great. Now people are going to start flooding HN with Erlang stories again.

_why somehow reminds me of Nattramn from Silencer (band) but in a very lightweight way, where he mixed his work with a bit of 'cool insanity' until he had to go all out and it was just not something for 'an audience'. People seem hungry for this sort of behavior, and it amazes me how harmless they think it is.

What harm did _why's behavior cause?

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