Top all-time · #3
Joel Spolsky
Personal blog · joelonsoftware.comprogrammingbusinesswriting
Joel Spolsky writes Joel on Software, a personal blog at joelonsoftware.com about programming, business and writing. Since 2007, 2,845 different Hacker News readers have linked it 4,897 times, most often “Things You Should Never Do, Part I (2000)”. The last post was in 2022, but the archive is still widely read.
Rarely recommended · 3 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers mostly cite Joel Spolsky's posts as the source for the 'complements' strategy idea and for the point that reading code is harder than writing it. Some call specific posts good introductions.
- Recommended for · 3 comments
- called a good intro to developer experience; helped one with interviewing; one says he is right on side projects
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
A weblog by Joel Spolsky, a programmer working in New York City, about software and software companies.
Most-linked posts?
- Things You Should Never Do, Part I (2000)307 people · 361 mentions · first linked 2016-12-07
- Things You Should Never Do, Part I (2000)180 people · 201 mentions · first linked 2007-10-11
- Commoditize your complements (2002)129 people · 167 mentions · first linked 2016-12-08
- Fire And Motion (2002)94 people · 110 mentions · first linked 2017-01-02
- The Law of Leaky Abstractions (2002)87 people · 110 mentions · first linked 2016-12-28
- Strong software tips from 2000 that are 100% valid today81 people · 96 mentions · first linked 2016-12-08
- How to Price Software - Economics vs. Pyschology75 people · 92 mentions · first linked 2007-03-27
- My First BillG Review (2006)74 people · 87 mentions · first linked 2016-12-31
- The Joel Test: 12 Steps to Better Code (2000; Still relevant?)73 people · 83 mentions · first linked 2007-03-03
- Don’t Let Architecture Astronauts Scare You (2001)72 people · 84 mentions · first linked 2016-12-23
What Hacker News says?
Well the complements of steam are the OS and hardware. So commoditizing them increases sales. https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/06/12/strategy-letter-v/ "A complement is a product that you usually buy together with another product. Gas and cars are complements. Computer hardware is a classic complement of computer operating systems. And babysitters are a complement of dinner at fine restaurants."
Comment linking /2002/06/12/strategy-letter-v/
on “Steam Machine”Submitted Victory Lap for Ask Patents as a story · 1075 points
HN discussionI can see Joel's points here and this is relevant to the discussion. It's probably the article he has written I disagree with the most as there is a simple way to deal with this; be very clear about the projects, code and designs the employee works on each month and sign them over as they are delivered. That way the employee's own work will be clear should there be any legal wrangling. This could be done by a status…
Comment linking /2016/12/09/developers-side-projects/
on “IBM acquires Red Hat”Submitted Developers’ side projects as a story · 1052 points
HN discussionI wonder why Google doesn't work with Raspberry on Chrome OS, Android etc. ( Or even secretly donating money to them ) Commoditising your complacement [1]. Otherwise it wont be long before Apple ship a $399 Mac Nano. Not exactly a direct competitor, but it will surely sell like hot cakes in the educational market. [1] https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/06/12/strategy-letter-v/
Comment linking /2002/06/12/strategy-letter-v/
on “Raspberry Pi 400 Desktop PC”Submitted HyperDev – Developer Playground for Full-Stack Web Apps as a story · 473 points
HN discussionThe long answer to your question is essentially the entire field of Developer Experience Design, but good intros to it are this Joel Splosky post: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/10/controlling-your-e... And this talk at pyTexas: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-vZ_E1OO_PY I think git does have some significant design warts but I think when we use the word ‘empathy’ in this context, we should remember that we a…
Comment linking /2000/04/10/controlling-your-environment-makes-you-happy/
on “Linus Torvalds apologizes for his behavior, takes time off”Submitted Why are the Microsoft Office file formats so complicated? (2008) as a story · 393 points
HN discussionMeta will make money like it has in the past by having data about users and advertising to them. Commoditizing AI helps them keep at that. See Joel on Software "Smart companies try to commoditize their products’ complements" https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/06/12/strategy-letter-v/
Comment linking /2002/06/12/strategy-letter-v/
on “Open source AI is the path forward”Submitted Joel Spolsky: Lunch as a story · 368 points
HN discussionThey are positioning themselves as champions of AI open source mostly because they were blindsided by OpenAI, are not in the infra game, and want to commoditize their complements as much as possible. This is not altruism although it's still great for devs and startups. All FB GPU investments is primarily for new AI products "friends", recommendations and selling ads. https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/06/12/strateg…
Comment linking /2002/06/12/strategy-letter-v/
on “Open source AI is the path forward”Submitted The Duct Tape Programmer as a story · 333 points
HN discussionObligatory reminder of why tech companies subsidize open source projects: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/06/12/strategy-letter-v/
Comment linking /2002/06/12/strategy-letter-v/
on “Open source AI is the path forward”Submitted New York City gets a Software Engineering High School as a story · 329 points
HN discussionI have been in this industry since the mid 80s. I can't tell you how many people worry that I can't handle change because as a veteran, I must cling to what was. Meanwhile, of course, the reason I am still in the industry is because of my plasticity. Nothing is as it was for me, and I have changed just about everything about how I work multiple times. But what does stay the same all this time are people and business…
Comment linking /2002/06/12/strategy-letter-v/
on “My AI skeptic friends are all nuts”Submitted How Trello is different as a story · 299 points
HN discussionIt’s not the OP’s issue. That reading code is harder than writing it is as close to a consensus belief as we get in this industry. https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-...
Comment linking /2000/04/06/things-you-should-never-do-part-i/
on “My AI skeptic friends are all nuts”Submitted Software Inventory by Joel Spolsky as a story · 297 points
HN discussionCurious how he reconciles this: > If you build something with an LLM that people will depend on, read the code. In fact, you’ll probably do more than that. You’ll spend 5-10 minutes knocking it back into your own style. with Joel Spolsky's fundamental maxim: > It’s harder to read code than to write it. https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-...
Comment linking /2000/04/06/things-you-should-never-do-part-i/
on “My AI skeptic friends are all nuts”Submitted Everyone thinks they're hiring the top 1% (2005) as a story · 286 points
HN discussionAre you, though? Reading code is harder, potentially much harder.[1] And I suspect the act of writing it yourself imparts some lower level knowledge you don't get by skimming the output of an AI. [1] https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/05/26/reading-code-is-li...
Comment linking /2000/05/26/reading-code-is-like-reading-the-talmud/
on “My AI skeptic friends are all nuts”Submitted Anil Dash Is the New CEO of Fog Creek Software as a story · 270 points
HN discussionUnable to access article due to paywall. Here is a corresponding post by Joel Spolsky: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2021/06/02/kinda-a-big-announ...
Comment linking /2021/06/02/kinda-a-big-announcement/
on “Stack Overflow sold to Prosus for $1.8B”Submitted Distributed Version Control is here to stay, baby as a story · 235 points
HN discussionI dunno. Reddit seems like an example of a successful acquisition. Conde Nast managed not to destroy Reddit after buying it. But I agree with you overall. I'm a bit nervous too. Stack Overflow is so good, and its fate is now entirely in the hands of the purchaser. EDIT: In the other announcement post ( https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2021/06/02/kinda-a-big-announ... ): Today we’re pleased to announce that Stack Overf…
Comment linking /2021/06/02/kinda-a-big-announcement/
on “Stack Overflow sold to Prosus for $1.8B”Submitted The Stack Overflow Age as a story · 233 points
HN discussionhttps://www.joelonsoftware.com/2021/06/02/kinda-a-big-announ...
Comment linking /2021/06/02/kinda-a-big-announcement/
on “Stack Overflow sold to Prosus for $1.8B”Submitted Joel Spolsky: Can your programming language do this? as a story · 222 points
HN discussionFire and motion, Joel Spolsky blogged about this: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/01/06/fire-and-motion/
Comment linking /2002/01/06/fire-and-motion/
on “GPT-6 Astra”Submitted Kinda a Big Announcement as a story · 221 points
HN discussion
