Blog Rants by Steve Yegge

The Bellic School of Management Training

2008-09-29T06:16:39Z

I haven't been blogging much this summer. Mostly it's because all my free time has been spent engaged in an important research project called "What Would Niko Bellic Do?" I've been enrolled in a high-quality Management Scenario Simulator Read More......(read more)

Programming's Dirtiest Little Secret

2008-09-11T00:28:12Z

"And as for this non-college bullshit I got two words for that: learn to fuckin' type"— Mr. Pink This is another one I've wanted to write forever. Man, I've tried a bunch of times. No ruck. Not Rucky. Once again I'm stuck feeling Read More......(read more)

Business Requirements are Bullshit

2008-08-12T10:24:51Z

Some CEO emailed me the other day. I don't remember who it was; people mail me all the time about their blah blah yawn product service thingy, and on the rare occasions I bother to read mail from strangers, I don't usually remember anything about Read More......(read more)

Done, and Gets Things Smart

2008-06-17T03:59:36Z

Disclaimer: I do not speak for Google! These are my own views and opinions, and are not endorsed in any way by my employer, nor anyone else, for that matter. Everyone knows and quotes Joel's old chestnut, "Smart, and Gets Things Done." It Read More......(read more)

Rhinos and Tigers

2008-06-15T01:26:33Z

I will once again plagiarize myself by transcribing a talk I gave. First: be warned! I offer this gesture of respect to you — yes, you! — when I say that this is at least 20 minutes of reading. This is long even for me. If you're surfing reddit, gobbling Read More......(read more)

Dynamic Languages Strike Back

2008-05-12T06:52:18Z

Some guys at Stanford invited me to speak at their EE Computer Systems Colloquium last week. Pretty cool, eh? It was quite an honor. I wound up giving a talk on dynamic languages: the tools, the performance, the history, the religion, everything. It was Read More......(read more)

XEmacs is Dead. Long Live XEmacs!

2008-04-28T12:53:10Z

"We're going to get lynched, aren't we?" — Phouchg And you thought I'd given up on controversial blogs. Hah! Preamble This must be said: Jamie Zawinski is a hero. A living legend. A major powerhouse programmer who, among his many Read More......(read more)

Settling the OS/X focus-follows-mouse debate

2008-04-25T02:28:23Z

I recently switched to using OS/X full-time for all my client-side computing. Still using Linux on the backends, of course, at home and at work, but I now use Macs for my client machines. I'm not a Mac fanboy. I'm sort of a wannabe Mac fanboy Read More......(read more)

js2-mode: a new JavaScript mode for Emacs

2008-03-31T04:43:35Z

I've written a new JavaScript editing mode for GNU Emacs, and released it on code.google.com. This is part of a larger project, in progress, to permit writing Emacs extensions in JavaScript instead of Emacs-Lisp. Lest ye judge: hey, some people swing Read More......(read more)

Four console games you might like...

2008-03-17T04:21:49Z

I only play a handful of games a year, so I haven't written a game review since my post on Oblivion a year ago. But since then I've played a few unusually good games, including one awesome PS/3 title last weekend, so I figured it's time for Read More......(read more)

Get that job at Google

2008-03-13T01:52:28Z

I've been meaning to write up some tips on interviewing at Google for a good long time now. I keep putting it off, though, because it's going to make you mad. Probably. For some statistical definition of "you", it's very likely to Read More......(read more)

Portrait of a N00b

2008-02-11T04:58:30Z

Emergency Elisp

2008-01-24T22:51:26Z

Are you an Emacs user but don't know Lisp? Welcome to my first Emacs Lisp primer! This should hopefully help get you over the hurdle so you can have more control over your Emacs sessions. There are lots of ways to do things in Lisp, and some are "Lispier" Read More......(read more)

Blogging Theory 201: Size Does Matter

2008-01-07T14:50:13Z

I'm always getting criticized for writing long blogs. "Way too verbose! Couldn't he have said all that in two paragraphs?" Not everyone feels that way, of course; lots of people tell me to keep doing what I'm doing. But the size Read More......(read more)

Code's Worst Enemy

2007-12-19T14:52:30Z

I'm a programmer, and I'm on vacation today. Guess what I'm doing? As much as I'd love to tell you I'm sipping Mai Tais in the Bahamas, what I'm actually doing on my vacation is programming. So it's a "vacation" only Read More......(read more)

Boring Stevey Status Update

2007-12-07T00:50:46Z

I had an exciting morning of not getting fired today. Get this: I'm on a trip to Google's Mountain View headquarters, and was glancing at Reddit between meetings, and lo and behold, I was inexplicably in the Reddit Tabloids again, this time for Read More......(read more)

Ten Tips for a (Slightly) Less Awful Resume

2007-09-26T04:39:06Z

Objective: Obtain a position at IBM-- some idiot applying to Amazon.com WARNING: These are my own *personal* opinions, not Google's or Amazon's or anyone else's. I do think you'll find that most resume screeners at tech companies — particularly Read More......(read more)

Stevey's Tech News, Issue #1

2007-09-02T04:59:05Z

Welcome to the first-ever edition of Stevey's Tech News! And possibly last-ever as well! I've managed to get the scoop on a number of important tech-industry stories before they hit the presses, and I'm sticking it to The Man by getting this Read More......(read more)

How To Make a Funny Talk Title Without Using The Word "Weasel"

2007-08-17T09:54:54Z

I haven't blogged in a while. So much fun stuff going on! You have no idea. Fun! This blog entry is a bit overdue, though, and my muse hasn't visited me lately, so I'll just wing it tonight and hope for the best. OK. So branding. Yeah. Branding Read More......(read more)

Rhino on Rails

2007-06-27T06:02:59Z

What a day. Apparently getting John Lam'd is worse than getting Slashdotted. My team has been laughing at me all day; we have no idea how I get into messes like this. Rather than reply individually to the crush of email, I guess I'll just do a Read More......(read more)

Rich Programmer Food

2007-06-22T15:10:43Z

The Olive Garden: it's where poor people go to eat rich people food. — Dave Yegge This is another one of those blog topics I've been sitting on for way too long, trying to find a polite way of saying something fundamentally impolite. I don't Read More......(read more)

That Old Marshmallow Maze Spell

2007-06-11T07:39:27Z

First thing I notice, walking into the familiar old Great Room, is that the crowd hasn't changed. There's one small difference that I can't put my finger on... it'll come to me, I'm sure. More familiarity: mature fires are burning Read More......(read more)

A Noogler's View of Google

2007-02-20T08:22:42Z

I know I promised I'd blog once a week, but they killed Simone and now I'm just incredibly distraught. How could they? So I guess I'll recycle some stuff from my internal Google blog, from my first few weeks there, about 20 months ago. Blatant Read More......(read more)

The Next Big Language

2007-02-12T04:56:47Z

There seems to be a long period of initial obscurity for any new language. Then after that comes a long period of semi-obscurity, followed by total obscurity. —Paul Bissex Note: after I wrote this entry, one or two commenters speculated that I might be Read More......(read more)

My save-excursion

2007-02-07T09:41:56Z

A friend of mine on a neighboring team at Google presented me with an interesting math problem the other day. It went like this: Friend: Hey Stevey! Me: Uh, you know people don't actually call me that to my face, right? Only behind my back. Friend Read More......(read more)