The Programmer and the Stone Statue | Hacker News Reader

The Programmer and the Stone Statue

janogonzalez.com

38 pointshodgesmr21 comments

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The master then showed the programmer the statue's revision history.

"What a crappy statue, who did this POS"

One revision history later... "oh good god, it was me".

The originals - http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/koans.html

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_koan

I have to say that I like this koan quite a bit more than the original programmer koans, which have always struck me as disappointingly shallow and rather more like knock-knock jokes.

They are jokes.

Real koans often have a joke-like quality to them as well – both jokes and koans tend to entail a sudden shift of perspective – but the original programmer koans have no element of enlightenment.

For those interested in more of these programming related koans: http://thecodelesscode.com/

Okay, I'll bite. I don't get it.

One possible interpretation: Things that are valuable (be it artistic creations or useful tools) will overshadow their inventors. If you want your work to be recognized, then you should care more about your work than about being recognized for it.

>Things that are valuable (be it artistic creations or useful tools) will overshadow their inventors. //

Almost all the artistic works that I can recognise on sight I have an idea who the artist was/is. Often you can see a work for the first time and have a guess at the artist. I don't think it works really - maybe for certain areas and/or with historic pieces (like who carved the Lewis Chessmen?)?

That's also how I interpreted it.

People recognising your work is distinct from people recognising you. It's sufficient for people to know your work and like it. Why should they care who made it?

Because someone got a big bonus when it was finished. Was it the person who made it or somebody else?

The morale is: if you want to be recognised for your works, attach your name to them, and promote yourself and your works.

It's an example in cultural differences. We can infer from the structure of the story, that it takes place in Japan. There, masters of great works aren't recorded and only the works remain - a clear consequence of day-to-day Japanese humbleness. Contrast that with the western world, where names like Leonardo and Michelangelo are clearly recognized for their work and we even remember people from something like 2000 years ago, like Plato, Socrates, Pliny, etc. The point of the story then is that if you want to be recognized for your work, move to Europe. Or if you're already in Europe, don't move to Japan.

It's also a joke.

I think masters of great works are pretty well-recognised in Japan. Matsuo Basho, for instance.

4 states: bad work+not recognised, bw+r, good work+nr, gw+r. you cannot control recognition. pointless to aim for bad work. always aim for good work and let recognition happen or not. ideally, be happy with doing good work and indifferent to recognition.

i think it was one of th US' ex-presidents who said "it's amazing what you can accomplish if you don't mind who gets the credit"

having said that, it takes a special person to do good work and see someelse get the credit and still be indifferent...

I think that quote is from President Bartlett when he secretly fixed social security.

If you want your work to be recognized, make something beautiful.

the point of art (code) should not be for recognition. create for the sake of taking the journey of creation, its much more fulfilling, and let others enjoy or not the creation. many famous artists were dead long before they were recognized for their brilliance.

20,000,000 people used our software last year. Perhaps 100 of them know who we are. I find this oddly gratifying, in some variety of Wizard-of-Oz type fashion.

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