Who is my enemy?

[Franklin]

What do you mean by the word "hate" in that sentence? What do you do as a result?

I pray for their destruction and I avoid them.

And that includes someone who writes code you don't like or uses GitHub rather than Mercurial for source code control?

Yes, no one causes me more misery than modern programmers do. I see their horrible code almost daily. And when I need a software tool, I have to wade into their sewer and try their disgusting programs. The last example of this was HTML drag-and-drop about which I could write a very long post about all the horrors that I encountered. The core point is that I NEVER encounter good software anymore, while good software was the norm before 2000.

[Ken]

I pray for their destruction and I avoid them.

And that includes someone who writes code you don't like or uses GitHub rather than Mercurial for source code control?

Yes, no one causes me more misery than modern programmers do. I see their horrible code almost daily. And when I need a software tool, I have to wade into their sewer and try their disgusting programs. The last example of this was HTML drag-and-drop about which I could write a very long post about all the horrors that I encountered. The core point is that I NEVER encounter good software anymore, while good software was the norm before 2000.

Yet I would rather write and edit a 500 page document with hundreds of embedded figures and tables using a modern word processing application (even MS Word) than the 1990 DOS version of WordPerfect. And I would rather use a modern spreadsheet like Excel, Numbers, or Google Sheets, than use the old 1990s Lotus 1-2-3 or VisiCalc on a DOS machine. And I would rather use a modern PC for photo-editing than something from 1990.

[Bootstrap]

I pray for their destruction and I avoid them.

And that includes someone who writes code you don't like or uses GitHub rather than Mercurial for source code control?

Yes, no one causes me more misery than modern programmers do. I see their horrible code almost daily. And when I need a software tool, I have to wade into their sewer and try their disgusting programs. The last example of this was HTML drag-and-drop about which I could write a very long post about all the horrors that I encountered. The core point is that I NEVER encounter good software anymore, while good software was the norm before 2000.

And yet, your website lists several modern software systems as good.

Mercurial
Bash
Java 8
Python
Luan
Nginx
This Website

Mercurial was first announced 19 April 2005, and certainly by a modern programmer. Matt Mackall, who created Mercurial, later became Olivia Mackall. Seems to flunk your criteria. Git was invented by Linus Torvalds, the same guy who invented Linux, which is an old school operating system, one I like quite a bit. And widely used by modern programmers. You would pray for the destruction of someone who uses Git rather than Mercurial? Strange.

Bash is older - I use it all the time.

Python was invented by Guido van Rossum, who is very much a modern programmer, and Python is one of the most popular programming languages for modern programmers.

Lua was invented in 1993, but the authors seem to be modern computer scientists. And most of its adoption has been more recently, by programmers who are very much modern.

Nginx is a great piece of software. But also modern software by any stretch of the imagination, and fairly mainstream.

To be consistent, shouldn't you stop using some of the few things you are willing to recognize as good? What about operating systems? Is any operating system good enough for you? If not, shouldn't you stop using operating systems too? Do you plan to create a new operating system from scratch?

[Franklin]

And yet, your website lists several modern software systems as good.

Mercurial
Bash
Java 8
Python
Luan
Nginx
This Website

Mercurial was first announced 19 April 2005, and certainly by a modern programmer. Matt Mackall, who created Mercurial, later became Olivia Mackall. Seems to flunk your criteria. Git was invented by Linus Torvalds, the same guy who invented Linux, which is an old school operating system, one I like quite a bit. And widely used by modern programmers. You would pray for the destruction of someone who uses Git rather than Mercurial? Strange.

Bash is older - I use it all the time.

Python was invented by Guido van Rossum, who is very much a modern programmer, and Python is one of the most popular programming languages for modern programmers.

Lua was invented in 1993, but the authors seem to be modern computer scientists. And most of its adoption has been more recently, by programmers who are very much modern.

Nginx is a great piece of software. But also modern software by any stretch of the imagination, and fairly mainstream.

To be consistent, shouldn't you stop using some of the few things you are willing to recognize as good? What about operating systems? Is any operating system good enough for you? If not, shouldn't you stop using operating systems too? Do you plan to create a new operating system from scratch?

I already said that modern culture stopped producing good things around 2010, and your post is entirely consistent with this.

No current operating system is good. When I need something and can't find something good, I have no choice but to use something bad. I don't plan to develop a new operating system because I am mortal and don't have the time. I have already developed my own programming language, Java library, web server, web hosting service, and Mercurial hosting service. I think that's enough for one programmer.

[Bootstrap]

No current operating system is good. When I need something and can't find something good, I have no choice but to use something bad. I don't plan to develop a new operating system because I am mortal and don't have the time. I have already developed my own programming language, Java library, web server, web hosting service, and Mercurial hosting service. I think that's enough for one programmer.

Yes, that's quite a bit for one programmer. But just a drop in the bucket if you look at all the really useful advances in software since 2010. Only a very few individuals have that much influence on software as a whole. Perhaps Doug Crockford or Guido von Rossum, for instance.

And your work is only possible because other programmers created an operating system and programming languages and other things for you to work with - programmers whose work you call "horrible" and say you pray for their destruction. I mean, if that's how you feel, maybe you should stop using their operating system.

I am certainly grateful for other programmers who have developed many things I rely on. I think I've done enough for one programmer too, but I have generally found building and working within communities makes me much more productive. I like learning to write better code by code reviews, looking at each other's code and discussing it. In generally, I think all of us are much smarter than any of us.