forked from steveklabnik/blog
/
the-hackety-mainfesto.html
157 lines (138 loc) · 7.3 KB
/
the-hackety-mainfesto.html
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang='en'>
<head>
<meta charset='utf8' />
<meta content='IE=edge,chrome=1' http-equiv='X-UA-Compatible' />
<title>Literate Programming - The Hackety Mainfesto</title>
<link href='http://feeds.feedburner.com/steveklabnik' rel='alternate' type='application/rss+xml' />
<link href='/css/blueprint/screen.css' media='screen, projection' rel='stylesheet' />
<link href='/css/blueprint/print.css' media='print' rel='stylesheet' />
<!--[if lt IE 8]>
<link href='/css/blueprint/ie.css' media='screen, projection' rel='stylesheet' />
<![endif]-->
<link href='/css/site.css' rel='stylesheet' />
<script src='/js/modernizr-1.7.min.js'></script>
<script src='/js/jquery-1.6.min.js'></script>
<script src='/js/app.js'></script>
<script type='text/javascript'>
//<![CDATA[
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-4054156-1']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
(function() {
var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
(document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0] || document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0]).appendChild(ga);
})();
//]]>
</script>
</head>
<body>
<div class='container'>
<section class='span-14 prepend-2 append-2 clear' id='main'>
<h1>The Hackety Mainfesto</h1>
<hr />
<p>For those of you that don't know, I've taken over a project by someone named
_why. He dropped off of the face of the Internet back in March, and the
community has picked up his works. Because I'll be writing about the project
in the future, and because I feel these words are still relevant, I'm
reprinting the two of his essays that led up to the creation of the project,
Hackety Hack, here on my blog. Here's the second one.</p>
<p>Enjoy.</p>
<h1>The Hackety Manifesto</h1>
<p>Nearly four years ago, I wrote an essay called The Little Coder's Predicament.
It's not too unusual. Lots of others like it have been written. The point is:
programming just isn't available to people like it was with the Commodore 64.
I also outlined my requirements for a new cross-platform programming
environment for beginners.</p>
<p>The essay was widely linked on Slashdot, Reddit, Lambda, etc. I got lots of
mail from people who both agreed and disagreed. Great. Nice. Good people all
of them! And yet, nothing has changed. Not really!</p>
<p>I've been told of the Xbox development kit and possible programming of Wii
channels. The Playstation actually had a language. But none if it has met my
criteria for a proper coding platform.</p>
<h2>An Aside: We Care, But Not Enough</h2>
<p>So, why has nothing been done about this? Maybe our interpreters and IDEs
(ewww…) are good enough? Lots of people wrote in to say that HTML and
JavaScript are the new BASIC. NO!!! You can't be serious!!! So people have to
write two languages now, which are intertwined in an almost inexplicable and
unfathomable way? This doesn't do it.</p>
<p>Hello world should be one line.</p>
<p>In fact, downloading an MP3 should be one line!!</p>
<p>We just don't care right now, do we? Programmers have a paid gig. So business
is happily slurping them up. Look at our books. Look at the programming sites.
Programming is tightly coupled to business. Often the first example is an
e-commerce site! Our books are like FIFTY DOLLARS!! For crying out loud.</p>
<p>This diatribe isn't about business being bad. Of course you need to feed your
family and drive an Audi.</p>
<p>This diatribe is about adding some balance to the world of programming. Okay,
so, let's take things into our own hands and bring hacking to the young folks.</p>
<h2>The Bylaws of Hackety</h2>
<p>Here are the rules by which Hackety Hack was established:</p>
<ul>
<li>Beginners should be greeted to Hackety Hack by a cartoon character. (For the sake of argument, let's call this character: Hacky Mouse.)</li>
<li>Also, helpful sentences. Preferably short and with a period.</li>
<li>Hackety Hack is fundamentally a browser and a programming language. For now, Gecko and Ruby.</li>
<li>I'm only using Ruby because I know it. Hopefully, more languages can be added!</li>
<li>Again, this isn't about Ruby, it's about simply offering a place for plainspeople to tinker with code.</li>
<li>IDEs are a disaster. Newbs should see only one non-scary window free of tree controls and pinned windows and toolbars.</li>
<li>As such, we want to stay away from project files and makefiles, the trappings of an IDE.</li>
<li>Hackety Hack also adds simple libraries for common things.</li>
<li>Common things are one-liners.</li>
<li>Keep args and options to a minimum.</li>
<li>In Ruby, blocks should be used to open up a method to more advanced possibilities.</li>
<li>Help files are clean, short, simple. Lots of short examples. No frames.</li>
<li>While all bug tickets are helpful and great, I just value tickets from beginners to a greater degree.</li>
<li>Hackety Hack is free and will remain free henceforth.</li>
</ul>
<p>Beyond that… anything which makes life easy and fun for Hackety Hackers is
definitely encouraged, even demanded.</p>
<h3>Have Something to say?</h3>
<hr />
<p>
<p>I'd love to hear from you. I don't accept comments directly, but please
<a href="mailto:steve@steveklabnik.com">email me</a> with any feedback,
positive or negative. I always revise posts with the interesting parts
of these discussions. Thanks!</p>
</p>
</section>
<section class='span-5 prepend-1 last' id='right'>
<img src='http://en.gravatar.com/userimage/5335489/ee56a7574df33ed8748160494c930b98.jpg?size=190' />
<aside>
<h4>Hi there, I'm Steve.</h4>
<p>
I write both code and prose. Here's some of my thoughts about software,
literature, art and code, with some politics thrown in on occasion.
You might also enjoy <a href="http://steveklabnik.com/">my website</a>.
</p>
</aside>
<nav>
<h4>See them all</h4>
<p>
You're viewing a single post, but if you'd like to see
the list of everything I've written, just <a href="/">go here</a>.
</p>
<h4>Popular Posts</h4>
<p>Here are some of my most-viewed articles.</p>
<ul>
<li>
<a href='/2010/03/03/why-bother-creating.html'>Why bother creating?</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href='/2010/08/19/a-word-about-why-whyday-and-hackety-hack.html'>A word about _why, #whyday, and Hackety Hack</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href='/2010/11/17/the-hardest-decision-i-ve-ever-made.html'>The hardest decision I've ever made</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href='/2010/03/08/create-a-more-compelling-experience-for-your-users-through-game-mechanics.html'>Create a more compelling experience for your users through game mechanics</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href='/2010/07/17/what-to-know-before-debating-type-systems.html'>What to know before debating type systems</a>
</li>
</ul>
</nav>
</section>
</div>
</body>
</html>