_why: "Not all code needs to be a factory, some of it can just be origami." | Hacker News Reader

_why: "Not all code needs to be a factory, some of it can just be origami."

rubyforge.org

53 pointsaudionerd17 comments

“Instead of saying the obfuscation ‘just makes development/releasing harder,’ try saying obfuscation ‘just makes flippancy/esotericism easier.’”

— _why / http://rubyforge.org/pipermail/camping-list/2008-May/000673....

It's gone over a year, and I'm still embarrased of how silly that proposal was.

This reminds me of my favorite _why quote, paraphrased:

"Camping is magic, plus some other stuff."

(camping is an anagram of magicnp)

I'd rather say magicpn ;-) (see potion's source)

FYI, I'm cleaning up the documentation right now, so we can finally release this thing. It's taken way too long time when you don't have a guy who says "okay, release it!"

Indeed, but beware:

Origami = art

Factory = work.

Do you want to make money or art?

Both.

Not necessarily, but possibly, within the same project.

I would rather make art than money. Money is wasted away on details. But art, oh art, is beautiful. Art can do things that money never can.

Just like money can do things art never will ... boring, ugly, world-changing things ... which can be very beautiful.

No reason it can't be both, but given a choice between making something that makes me happier and making something that makes me money, I'll go for happiness.

does it have to be a choice? why not create value with art, and exchange that value for money.

Doing both would be great, but often doing both is impossible. Code is one of those things.

Don't ever code as smart as you can because debugging is twice as hard as coding. If you write the smartest code you can, you will not be able to debug it.

I imagine origami code as this kind of brilliant and amazing puzzle solution that brings a smile to your face when you grok it. And that's exactly the kind of thing I would not want to maintain for a living. Write it, sure. But not maintain/extend/debug it etc.

What if smart code is readable code is debuggable code?

Then I wouldn't label it origami.

Making money depends on a lot of variables beyond your control. Making art is completely within your control. Every 5 year old does art, very few people make real money.

In any case, if money is your goal (absolutely legitimate) you'll have much better odds choosing finance rather than technology as your field.

art=money see: http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/03/1000_true_fan...

Sometimes the two meet: http://www.industrialorigami.com/technology/how.cfm http://www.langorigami.com/science/science.php4

The latter link references a variety of particular interesting applications, from airbag design to laser waveguides.

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