> This is handled by IP, the Internet Protocol, whence IP addresses.
This is grammatically nonsense. Correct would be “whence IP addresses come”. Or, “from where IP addresses come”, if you want to write like somebody normal
One of my biggest pet peeves is when someone uses obscure words like “whence” in an effort to flex their knowledge - and it’s even worse when they actually use it wrong. Almost made me stop reading the article. Although I’m glad I didn’t, because the rest of the article is great.
That sentence's grammar is intentional. (I wrote the sentence.)
English is not a programming language. I'm sure that we can both name revered authors who have used far "worse" grammar consistently throughout their careers, whereas the word choice that has so ruffled you here involves a single word.
As to "flexing knowledge": I had some fun in a couple sentences in that article. I aim to be at least slightly more than a machine that extrudes gray paste of unit density. Fabricating an ulterior motivate and attributing it to me is offensive.
Do you react similarly when watching "wat" due to the misspelling, or "The Birth and Death of JavaScript" due to pronouncing the "J" like a "y"? Part of the charm of his content is the lighthearted, silly nature of it, and throwing in an antiquated sounding word seems to me like just another instance of not making technical content have to be overly dry and serious.
Even if it was grammatically incorrect, you understood what they meant, right? With such a vast field of knowledge as tech, should one strive to become a masterful writer on top of their technical studies? Maybe just being able to get an intelligible point across to the masses is good enough.
Not necessarily focusing my comment at you, either. I've seen this sentiment around a lot, and my reaction each time is "what am I, a software engineer or the one monkey that managed to type the complete works of William Shakespeare on a typewriter?"
I guess sometimes it takes a bit of knowledge about the author to read through their reading without cringing. In this case, I think it's on purpose, to give the author's (fictional) tone to the text. If you try watching one of the later talks, you'll see what style the text is trying to emulate.
This is grammatically nonsense. Correct would be “whence IP addresses come”. Or, “from where IP addresses come”, if you want to write like somebody normal
One of my biggest pet peeves is when someone uses obscure words like “whence” in an effort to flex their knowledge - and it’s even worse when they actually use it wrong. Almost made me stop reading the article. Although I’m glad I didn’t, because the rest of the article is great.