In 30 seconds
Theo revisits the three programmer virtues—laziness, impatience and hubris—and describes how each can motivate someone to improve and automate a repetitive task.
- 1Three surprising virtuesTheo names laziness, impatience and hubris as traits that can help programmers automate and improve things.
- 2Impatience and confidenceImpatience motivates a fix, while hubris encourages a programmer to believe they can build it.
- 3Make the fix lastLaziness encourages a solution that does not demand constant attention afterward.
Takeaways
- Impatience can motivate a programmer to fix a frustrating problem.
- Hubris can provide the confidence to attempt a solution.
- Laziness can motivate a solution that reduces repeated work and maintenance.
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Why these traits can help
Theo names three traits that normally sound negative. He relates them to programmers' work of automation and improvement.
I still remember learning about the three virtues of great programmers: laziness, impatience and hubris. Those usually sound like terrible traits, but programmers are supposed to automate things and make them better, so they can be useful here.
Fix it and avoid repeating it
Impatience drives the fix and hubris supplies confidence. Laziness motivates a solution that needs less maintenance.
If you're impatient, you want to fix the problem. If you have hubris, you think you can do it. And if you're lazy, you try to solve it in a way that doesn't require you to keep coming back and maintaining it. That's why I think these traits work so well for programmers.
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