
Steve Wozniak interview in "Founders At Work" - python_kiss
http://foundersatwork.com/stevewozniak.html
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nostrademons
It's funny, when he describes how he wrote Apple BASIC, it's _exactly_ how a
textbook compiler implementation works. His incremental symbol table is just a
handwritten DFA. Then his noun stacks and verb stacks are basically how you'd
write a parser, though they're usually just generalized into a single stack
for a CFG.

~~~
RyanGWU82
Was that the textbook implementation _before_ he did it? I mean, it's been 30
years...

And even if that was the standard design, was there something uniquely
impressive about his execution? i.e. different architecture, unusually limited
hardware resources, etc. Remember, ideas are a dime a dozen, execution is
everything.

And just the fact that he stumbled onto the textbook design without knowing
what he was doing, that's somewhat impressive too.

I'm not totally trying to defend Woz -- he has tended to make some
exaggerations lately -- I just figure we should be asking the right
questions...

~~~
nostrademons
Oh, I'm commenting on how it's interesting that he stumbled onto the standard
architecture independently, managing to reinvent 15 years or so of theory (at
the time) on his own. Not trying to trivialize his accomplishment at all.

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python_kiss
I found Wozniak's interview, in Jessica's book, as one of the most
entertaining [1]. Many of the lessons learned from his early days have a
global appeal to other startups as well: starting out with a great team, being
young, not having money, adaptability, etc.

 _"Entrepreneurs have to keep adjusting to... everything's changing,
everything's dynamic, and you get this idea and you get another idea and this
doesn't work out and you have to replace it with something else. Time is
always critical because somebody might beat you to the punch.

It's better to be young because you can spend a lot more nights, very very
late. Because you have to get things done, and there's almost no other way to
get around that. When the times come, they are critical."_ \- Woz

[1] I haven't finished the book yet.

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fireandfury
Great interview. 10/10

I love how Woz described his relationship with Steve Jobs. What a great story
of how Apple got started.

