First post!
Not like there was anyone to snatch it away from me. But allow me the cheap thrill.
I guess I’m supposed to do an introduction here (convention over configuration!) . So, without further ado:
Why ‘progressive programmer’?
- Progressive is a reference to the kind of music I love most – progressive metal and progressive rock. More on this later.
- At the same time it is a tribute and homage to the Pragmatic Programmer, which is a book that greatly inspired me (and which has led to an entire publishing company).
Why ‘ProgProg’?
Because progressiveprogrammer.com was already being domain-squatted. Okay, so I’m not as original as I think. Anyway I was lamenting this fact to a friend and he was like “What about ProgProg?” And thus a future star yet another inane blog clogging up the Intarweb’s tubes was born.
Interestingly, unbeknownst to me at the time I registered this domain, www.pragprog.com does direct to the Pragmatic Programmer website1.
So, what is a progressive programmer?
Prog metal and prog rock are best defined as genres where the musicians constantly push the boundaries of music, defying the “rules” of regular music so to speak. Be it through composition structure, executing a concept for an entire album, or sheer virtuosity and technical prowess2.
Now I’m not deluded enough to think that I can push the boundaries of programming or computer science. I’m content to challenge my own limitations, and improve myself at my chosen craft – software development – day-by-day.
Wait a minute, aren’t “progressive” people hippie tree-huggers?
Well, I suppose the politically correct term is “liberals”. In the same way conservatives => right-wing neo-cons, and libertarians => anarcho-capitalists. Now that’s one analogy question you’d never see on the SATs.
Unfortunately, the term “progressive” does often refer to a liberal-minded person, so I have to include this disclaimer that I am not a liberal. I’m a libertarian. Same prefix, world of difference in meaning. Hopefully that’s the first and last time I have to talk politics.
And that’s all for now.
Don’t expect future posts to follow this FAQ format—I just thought it make for a more concise introduction, given my tendency to ramble3.
1 Don’t you accuse me of trying to capture traffic from typos—you’d have to be pretty damn uncoordinated to mistype an ‘a’ for a ‘o’ (hint: look at your keyboard).
2 Because of this, many prog fans are total musical snobs, dismissing most other genres of music as unoriginal and lacking creativity. Think of them as the musical equivalent of LISP hackers.
3 Oooh foreshadowing. Now you’re just dying to read the next post, aren’t ya?
