I’ve been busy. That doesn’t explain my silence on this blog, its but an excuse. A lot of things have been happening, both in my personal and professional life, and I’m not at liberty to talk about them. Those are for another day.
I have been writing code - for money, ie - for 9 years now. This obsession started a good 6 years before that. I don’t have much to show for it (most of it is copyrighted, or lost across several machines, that weren’t mine). One thing that hasn’t changed is the burning desire to get near some of my idols – gods even. When I was 15, I promised myself that I will strive to be at the same level as some of these people.
Mashable made a list of people – fathers of the internet, and so did Dave winer. All of these people have made such great contributions, that it is foolish to not agree with both these lists. However, for me, as a hacker, they interest me less than those who were the developers of software that made the Internet possible. Here is my non-exhaustive list, in no particular order, of the gods I try to emulate, and someday match and surpass (what are we, without lofty goals, eh?)
- Ken Thompson
- rob pike
- stroustroup
- guido van rossum
- Linus torvalds
- Dave winer
- jwz
- Joshua bloch
- David Heinemeier Hansson
- james gosling
- miguel de icaza
And some friends, that are equally important to me as hackers (not the kind that break into your computer)
- ganesh CS
- Yuvi panda
- guru
- rajasekar
(There are couple who I work with, that should be on that list, but I still have to work with them, and don’t want to make anyone jealous. Sorry for leaving you out guys/gals ;) )
If you are a hacker or want to be one, you should look at this list, and pick a few, and engross yourself in their work. That is by far, the best way to get better at what you do. The first step in becoming good, is to find a measuring stick. If anyone from the list is what you measure yourself by, you are bound for greatness. See ya there!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_programmers
Peace, out!