Jason Esser (URL?) emailed me over this:
Stiff asks, great programmers answer
At some hot, boring afternoon I got an _Idea_. With the help of public accessible e-mail addresses I asked 10 questions to a bunch of programmers that I consider very interesting people and I respect them for various things they created. Coming out with question was a 5 minute job for me – these are things I would ask about if I could speak with them personally for, let’s say, 10 minutes, and I didn’t have time for thinking too much. The last two question don’t have anything to do with programming, this is simply something I like to know about everyone I talk to, lets say that’s my hobby. Not everyone wanted to answer them, and that’s fine. It was the first „interview” I ever made, so I also made some mistakes, which went out as people started answering… But despite of this, I learnt a lot of interesting stuff, so it was definetly a valuable experience.
It’s really rather good. He asks various people, most of whom most people will know (Linus, DHH from Rails, Guido from Python, James Gosling from Java etc) nine questions:
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How did you learn to program
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What is the most important skill every programmer should posses?
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Do you think mathematics and/or physics are an important skill for a programmer? Why?
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What do you think will be the next big thing in computer programming? X-oriented programming, y language, quantum computers, what?
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If you had three months to learn one relatively new technology, which one would You choose?
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What do you think makes some programmers 10 or 100 times more productive than others?
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What are your favourite tools (operating system, programming/scripting language, text editor, version control system, shell, database engine, other tools you can’t live without) and why do you like them more than others?
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What is your favourite book related to computer programming?
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What is Your favourite book NOT related to computer programming?
Some of the responses are excellent – eg, on the most important skill:
Steve Yegge: Written and verbal communication skills…
Linus: It’s a thing I call “taste”…..
And:
DHH on the next big thing: I try not to predict the future. I’m not a big believer in fortune telling. The best way to predict the future is to implement it. [my italics]
The responses differ wildly, which I think makes for a more interesting article :)
Cheers, Jason!
