Redoubtable hacker Chip Salzenberg wrote me last night with the subject line “You have ascended”. I quote in full:
Long time no chat. Hope you are well. In fact, I don’t have to hope, because I just read this in a book:
Raymond in his brilliant The Cathedral and the Bazaar [2001] …
That’s all well and good, and I know enough authors not to be excessibly impressed by publication.
Thing is, this book is by Fred Brooks. As in, Brooks’ Law.
Oh My Lack Of God.
Do you have a halo now, or maybe a relic to protect you from feature creep?
After boggling for a few minutes, I wrote back:
I can almost top this. Donald Knuth once sent me a bug fix. For INTERCAL.
Hmmm.. Now, where did I stash that Amulet of Yendor?
If you found the preceding exchange cryptic, you need to get out more are probably a normal human being with, like, a life. How sad for you.