Terry Davis - The Hardest Question In Programming

Terry Davis getting deep.

[Hackr]

Both the hardest question and the hardest R in programming, R.I.P.

[troglodyte]

I often ask myself this when I'm coding. The line between voodoo and divine intellect is a fine one.

[Cheesy_]

Terry Davis is what happens when you combine a genius coder with schizophrenia. Legend.

[kicknotes]

I asked this once during an interview. I did not get the job.

[alrightsquinky]

Strangest TED talk I’ve ever heard, but I’m intrigued.

[kamalmanzukie]

'i'll leave you with that' pure fucking class

[ano_nym]

Google's questions ain't shit compared to the philosophical programming questions we get asked by God.

[bobstevenson]

In a weird way I actually understand what he’s saying and it’s good programming advice. He’s basically just saying “look at your code and see if it’s too complicated for what you’re trying to do”

[sexcommunist]

What is the hardest question in programming?:

Google: Naming, cache invalidation etc.
Bing:

[Gameboygenius]

After the famous quandary of "an unstoppable force meets an immovable object" we meet "the hardest question in programming meets the smartest programmer that has ever lived".

[CaptainBullzAQW]

interview question by terry:

❌ is your code optimized?
✅ is your code n-?

[Huliscool]

i'm amazed that he got around youtube's new censoring on their automatic captions

[prohacker]

He is essentially saying that one should always consider whether his codebase is too complex or not for its supposed function. Writing heavily reusable code is useful, using standard structures is reliable. But at the same time heavily reusable code requires another set of codes just to make it work, using standard structures may just overcomplicate things. The code he shows I believe demonstrates these 2 points.

[leonplis]

I'm gonna post this on LinkedIn just to contrast the cringy self motivated coaching bullshit that dwells on that platform

[fetusthegreat]

Rest In Peace. His story is so tragic but I hope he found peace and am glad people now are starting to look past the illness and actually appreciate how impressive what he accomplished truly was

[Sypaka]

At a job interview :
A: "How would you describe this code?" **shows C++**
B: "Too much voodoo"

[joshstather]

I think he’s not just talking about complexity, but “black magic”. I.e strange roundabout ways to achieve things that aren’t declarative. An example in Java would be attributes/decorators or perhaps middleware. It solves a problem nicely but it’s not obvious what’s going on as you step through the code. Especially when building core software or frameworks (or in his case, an OS) - this truly is one of the hardest questions in programming because there’s no real clear cut way to decide

[discipleofdagon]

"Is this too much voodoo for our purposes?"

-every inquisitor in 40k

[YyJester]

Every single programmer at Microsoft should have asked themselves this question on a daily basis.
"Is this steaming pile of inefficient shit code too much voodoo for the world to bear?" And more often than not the answer would be yes.
When Terry asks himself if his code is solid enough for the next centuries, I don't see it as a joke but as serious contemplation.
He was a man who put deep thought into every single line of code he wrote.

A practice that every contemporary programmer needs to adopt without a doubt.

[calebbarton]

*Interviewer:* In your own words, what would you say is wrong with this code?

*Terry Davis:* My own words, you say?