

Why Good Programmers are Lazy and Dumb (2005) - jeremybencken
http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2005-08-24-n14.html

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hhenn
The idea that being a "dumb" programmer helps with debugging reminds me of a
tactic I see people use on StackOverflow. Some programmer will post a problem
they're having, and lots of ultimately unhelpful solutions will be suggested
until someone else asks "what are you trying to accomplish?" and then it's
suddenly made clear that the programmer's problem was being approached in the
wrong way.

I've seen this happen so many times on SO, with good results, that it's become
the way I want to think about other problems in life.

~~~
6chars
This is common enough on SO to have a name: the XY Problem.

[http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/66377/what-is-the-
xy...](http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/66377/what-is-the-xy-problem)

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PeterisP
In that regard, see the three classic virtues of a programmer - laziness,
impatience and hubris. [http://www.cranked.me/2008/07/laziness-impatience-
hubris-thr...](http://www.cranked.me/2008/07/laziness-impatience-hubris-three-
great.html)

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nrivadeneira
Efficient != lazy Inquisitive != dumb

I agree with the overall gist of the article, but the title is obvious link-
bait and his valid points have been twisted just to fit it.

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twic
"a good programmer must be dumb. Why? Because if he’s smart, and he knows he
is smart, he will:

a) stop learning b) stop being critical towards his own work"

No. Just, no.

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geon
Exactly. That is pretty much the opposite of the Dunning–Kruger effect.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect)

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thibauts
So being smart equates to not being able to put oneself into question ? Not
the way I'm used to think about intelligence. Though, programming cultivates
the habit of rethinking your premises, I think we can all testify.

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sublimit
\- A paradoxical claim of "bad is good" in the title. Off to a good start.

\- The content is some neverheard's blog post with no substance to back up the
claim. Getting there.

\- Analogies, personal stories, vaguely "motivational" Powerpoint lingo,
rambling, self-contradictions... Bingo!

Yes, I'm sure this will be quite successful on the HN front page.

~~~
phpnode
Your post adds far less value. Please leave the snark at home.

