alt Hacker NewsI agree. Despite ending on a note of self-improvement, I wasn't really convinced that the author has any self-awareness to speak of. For example:
> When you argue with someone, you think you’re debating an idea. Often you’re not. You’re challenging their sense of self.
Oh, they're going to acknowledge that there are emotional reasons for their addiction to arguing.
> So I’ve drawn a line. I only discuss pros and cons with smart people
Oh, never mind.
Replies
Debating is always primarily a game of power and only secondarily about truth or correctness. If it were about truth alone, the person who is right could be content with being right and not caring what others believe, just like they don’t care about 99.9999% of beliefs held by others either.
But it’s not about truth, it’s about imposing your beliefs on others. And while rational arguments are a socially blessed method for doing so, they don’t change the underlying motivation.
Especially in software.
Approach A: implementation is hands-down the fastest.
Approach B: implementation is written so clearly and concisely that it's essentially self-documenting.
Approach C: a lot of attention paid to future proofing the code, parameter checking, sanity checking…
Which of the above was the most "logical" approach that the recipient was just not understanding?
(EDIT: Approach D: adheres closely to coding patterns in the rest of the framework.
I could probably come up with others…)