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Comment by xyzsparetimexyz | Hacker News Reader

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xyzsparetimexyz·

Since when did optimization get called 'mechanical sympathy' wtf? I hate the term

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Since 2011 according to this: https://martinfowler.com/articles/mechanical-sympathy-princi...

100% right.

Martin Fowler cited Martin Thompson of LMAX who cited Sir Jackie Stewart of Formula One

Race driver Jackie Stewart supposedly said “You don't have to be an engineer to be a racing driver, but you do have to have mechanical sympathy.”. Makes sense, to me, the race car is probably a bit closer to the way you'd treat your horse or something, to a driver.

Anyway, that's where we get the term from.

"Probably any one of the boys from the Palace Flophouse could have made the truck run, for they were all competent practical mechanics, but Gay was an inspired mechanic. There is no term comparable to green thumbs to apply to such a mechanic, but there should be. For there are men who can look, listen, tap, make an adjustment, and a machine works. Indeed there are men near whom a car runs better. And such a one was Gay"

^one of my favorite excerpts from my one of my favorite novels, Steinbeck's /Cannery Row/

I like the term. It’s a good way to think about programs and data structures etc.

I will never have either sympathy or empathy for a machine.

Understanding and feeling for what the machine is doing. Just like fitting together metal parts, or handling a car around a corner.

It's the same "sympathy" as in "sympathetic resonance" [0]. It has nothing to do with pity or the like.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sympathetic_resonance

Perhaps it's more to do with Muratori-style non-pessimization

Edit: Ha! It was mentioned by name in the questions section.

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