Walter's annoying habits

[John Reimer]

On Sun, 17 Dec 2006 20:21:23 -0800, Derek Parnell  
<derek at nomail.afraid.org> wrote:

> On Mon, 18 Dec 2006 05:25:08 +0200, Georg Wrede wrote:
>
>>>> Such understanding will make peeves mysteriously shrink, and make you
>>>> feel better and healthier. Not to mention, it'll make you stop beating
>>>> your wife and the kid next door.
>>>
>>> I assume that was an attempt at a joke, and you didn't actually *try*  
>>> to
>>> libel me by writing that offensive falsehood.
>>
>> First, it was addressed to the _next_ potential peever. Second, working
>> on it till one understands will improve one's own being. Third, the last
>> sentence was (admittedly a strongly formulated) reminder to check if
>> one's problems are not just related to D, since aggression on one venue
>> often has its roots elsewhere.
>
> And you expect that by publicly implying that I'm generally aggressive is
> helpful? I don't need that.
>


Guys? Peace?

Derek, you're most certainly not the only "other" one that's been annoyed  
with Walter's habits.  Georg, you did bring up a sore spot in your first  
post by mentioning Derek.  I found it a little confusing until you  
clarified yourself in the next post -- especially the wife and kid part.   
I know you both are respectable fellows. Can you please forgive and forget?

I think all this thread has shown is that, like it or not, we are all  
susceptable to folly now and again.  So now not even Walter has to feel  
singled out. :)

Yes, Walter's faults do play an important role in the D sega; yes, the bad  
and good have brought D to where it is now. But, the long and short of it  
is that Walter could not have succeeded without a community of people --  
and silent experts, no less -- pounding on him over and over.  Without  
that community, D is nothing.  As marvelously determined as Walter is, he  
couldn't have done it alone and still cannot.  It's a symbiotic  
relationship, no less.  Patting Walter on the back now and again is a nice  
gesture and a worthy one, but please realize that his reward is built in.   
If D becomes everywhere prevalent, which will be the more satisfying to  
Walter: the "Thankyou Walter's" and "Your a smart chap's" or the mere  
knowledge that he designed a massively successful language?

You see? The reward and motivation are built in.  Not to say he doesn't  
deserve a "thanyou" often, but I think we can safely bet that the reward  
is in the result.

The best we can hope for is that D will succeed despite these faults, that  
the infatiguely pounding process continues with a modicum of grace, and  
that D continues to blossom as result of that refining process.

-JJR