Python is readable

[Steve Howell]

On Mar 29, 9:38 pm, Nathan Rice <nathan.alexander.r... at gmail.com>
wrote:

> The mathematics of the 20th century, (from the early 30s onward) tend
> to get VERY abstract, in just the way Joel decries.  Category theory,
> model theory, modern algebraic geometry, topos theory, algebraic graph
> theory, abstract algebras and topological complexes are all very
> difficult to understand because they seem so incredibly abstract, yet
> most of them already have important applications.  I'm 100% positive
> if you just presented Joel with seminal papers in some of those areas,
> he would apply the "astronaut" rubber stamp, because the material is
> challenging, and he wouldn't get it (I love math, and I've had to read
> some papers 10+ times before they click).

Nathan,

Don't worry too much about Joel Spolsky, and worry even less about
people that allude to him.

Joel Spolksy is an early 21st century businessman.  He's a smart guy
with decent writing skills and semi-interesting thoughts, but he's not
gonna change the world.  He runs his business by promoting pragmatic
processes, writing blogs, procuring comfortable chairs for developers,
renting nice loft space in NYC, and building some useful, but
basically unoriginal, websites and apps.  Everything that Joel Spolsky
has ever said in his blog has already been put into practice 100 times
over by a bunch of similarly pragmatic early 21st century folk.

If you really like math, it is no surprise that you find the current
state of computer programming a bit inelegant.  90% of what
programmers do in the early 21st century is move the data from HERE to
THERE, then another 9% is placing the data in just the right part of
the screen.  I'm exaggerating a bit, but we're still in the
backwaters.  It's all engineering now; it's all breeding the faster
horse.  Or so it seems.

There's a natural ebb and flow to progress.  In the early to mid 20th
century, there were tremendous advances in math, science, and
technology, and maybe it's gonna take a full century or two of playing
around with shit and arguing about stupid shit until the dust finally
settles and we make another quantum jump.