Steve Yegge

19 Feb 2009

After a little diversion I’m back into my digital reading list:

http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/

I am not sure how to describe Steve Yegge.  I’ll start with some bullet points:

• Lately, and sadly, he has been an infrequent blogger
• Plug in your laptop before you start reading one his posts...you thought I had a few posts that went on and on and on and...I've got nothing on Steve
• Bloody brilliant communicator
• Insightful comments and vision regarding the industry we all work in

I don’t remember where I found Steve.  I forget if it was Joel’s Reddit feed or if I stumbled across him while on another software related blog, but every time he publishes I clear my calendar for the morning.

“Helen, hold all of my calls, Steve has posted again.”

:: Now, right this second, I don’t have a need for a secretary, and I’m not sure on the Helen part…maybe a Sally, or go another way, how about a Johnson.  I like Johnson, you can really let it rip from your gut…sounds manly.  ‘Johnson, (pause for effect)…Hold all of my calls’. ::

Steve is long winded.

“How long winded is he?”

Long.

However, those who embark and complete the journey will be pleasantly rewarded.

http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/10/programmers-view-of-universe-part-1.html

A couple of years ago I had a 55-gallon freshwater fish tank running in my living room, and I learned a few things from the experience.

1. I'm not very good at keeping fish.  Towards the end of the experience every morning I awoke to a few less living fish and a few more dead fish.  Emotionally keeping fish can be very difficult.
2. I never kept Bettas like Steve, but could relate to the heartbreak he had at the end of his post.  I think my algae eater died in the same fashion as his Betta.
3. You can't play catch with a fish...I confirmed through the experience of owning fish that I'm a dog person.

:: It didn’t take a tank full of fish to make me realize I was a dog person, but it’s always good to have confirmation. ::

Steve’s post is a classic post, referencing a non-industry related event to make a pointed statement about software and the world of computers.

Not all of his posts are downers.

http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/10/universal-design-pattern.html

Any post that references Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid is ok in my book…as Steve states:

Get yourself a copy and settle in for one of the most interesting, maddening, awe-inspiring and just plain fun books ever written. The Pulitzer Prize it won doesn’t nearly do it justice. It’s one of the greatest and most unique works of imagination of all time.

http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/09/bellic-school-of-management-training.html

I still haven’t completed the Niko Bellic management-training course.  I’m finding it harder and harder to fire up the Xbox 360 and devote the required hours needed for this management course.  One of these I will re-enroll…

Who turns an M-Rated Xbox 360 game into a post relating to management?  Steve Yegge.

http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/08/business-requirements-are-bullshit.html

How many times have you had an idea for something, anything?  You know the type of ideas, like the ones Ron Popeil puts up there in late night TV, but rather than creating the next ‘Pocket Fisherman’ you want to write a complex software system to make your life and the lives of other people easier.

What if there was a website where tenants could pay for their rent with their credit card?

Seems like a good idea, property owners are paid immediately with recurring credit card payments, and tenants get points on their credit card when they pay rent.  I could use a system like this…dealing with checks every month is a major pain in the ass…I could build a system to do this.  I could do it in Ruby on Rails, play in a language I don’t use on a day-to-day basis.  I have server space…this could all come together.

Here is the rub…financial transaction systems are not my passion.  I would be writing something for me, but in an area I know very little about.  This is a case where I might use something like this if it existed, but to build, maintain, and support a system that I’m not passionate about is a recipe for failure.

Steve dives deep into the idea of building business for yourself, in areas you know, and you are passionate about.

http://blip.tv/file/319044/

This video ranks up there with my favorite web videos…his talk is titled “How to Ignore Marketing and Become Irrelevant in Two Easy Steps.”  Ever wonder how Verizon came to be the company they are today?  Steve Yegge answers all.