I think it's an absolutely amazing piece. I know, I'm on HN, I'm not allowed to appreciate anything, but hear me out.
A lot of people here seem to be criticizing it because it has something they don't think fits everyone: austenallred thinks most people won't like its brief explanation of classes, others seem to delight in picking out things they think most people wouldn't understand and writing snarky comments about them. But "fitting everyone" would be impossible due to the gigantic range of people reading the article. This article brought together everyone: old and young, the suits and the programmers, PHP script-kiddies and artisanal Haskell sculptors into one mass of enchanted readers.
The people I know that read this have almost nothing in common: wannabe teenage intellectuals, middle managers, a kind, witty man in his 70s, spouses of programmers, people learning to code. As another commenter said, this article is something new: an article as an event. [0] An article as art. [1] But instead of dividing people, as may be expected (news events all too often separate crowds into opposing mobs; modern art separates people faster than oil and water) it brought them all together to talk about code.
A lot of people here seem to be criticizing it because it has something they don't think fits everyone: austenallred thinks most people won't like its brief explanation of classes, others seem to delight in picking out things they think most people wouldn't understand and writing snarky comments about them. But "fitting everyone" would be impossible due to the gigantic range of people reading the article. This article brought together everyone: old and young, the suits and the programmers, PHP script-kiddies and artisanal Haskell sculptors into one mass of enchanted readers.
The people I know that read this have almost nothing in common: wannabe teenage intellectuals, middle managers, a kind, witty man in his 70s, spouses of programmers, people learning to code. As another commenter said, this article is something new: an article as an event. [0] An article as art. [1] But instead of dividing people, as may be expected (news events all too often separate crowds into opposing mobs; modern art separates people faster than oil and water) it brought them all together to talk about code.
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9738351
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9738706