[1] : Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001)

real programmer n. indirectly, from the book "real men don't eat
   quiche" a particular sub-variety of hacker: one possessed of a flippant
   attitude toward complexity that is arrogant even when justified by
   experience. the archetypal `real programmer' likes to program on the
   bare metal and is very good at same, remembers the binary opcodes for
   every machine he has ever programmed, thinks that hlls are sissy, and
   uses a debugger to edit his code because full-screen editors are for
   wimps. real programmers aren't satisfied with code that hasn't been
   bummed into a state of tenseness just short of rupture. real
   programmers never use comments or write documentation: "if it was hard
   to write", says the real programmer, "it should be hard to understand."
   real programmers can make machines do things that were never in their
   spec sheets; in fact, they are seldom really happy unless doing so. a
   real programmer's code can awe with its fiendish brilliance, even as its
   crockishness appalls. real programmers live on junk food and coffee,
   hang line-printer art on their walls, and terrify the crap out of other
   programmers -- because someday, somebody else might have to try to
   understand their code in order to change it. their successors generally
   consider it a good thing that there aren't many real programmers
   around any more. for a famous and somewhat more positive portrait of a
   real programmer, see "the story of mel" in appendix a. the term itself
   was popularized by a letter to the editor in the july 1983 datamation
   titled "real programmers don't use pascal" by ed post, still circulating
   on usenet and internet in on-line form. typing "real programmers don't
   use pascal" into a web search engine should turn up a copy.


see also:
bare metal bum tense good thing the story of mel 

[2] : The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)

real programmer
     
         from the book "real men don't eat quiche" a
        variety of hacker possessed of a flippant attitude toward
        complexity that is arrogant even when justified by experience.
        the archetypal "real programmer" likes to program on the bare
        metal and is very good at it, remembers the binary op codes
        for every machine he has ever programmed, thinks that
        high-level languages are sissy, and uses a debugger to
        edit his code because full-screen editors are for wimps.  real
        programmers aren't satisfied with code that hasn't been
        bummed into a state of tenseness just short of rupture.
     
        real programmers never use comments or write
        documentation: "if it was hard to write", says the real
        programmer, "it should be hard to understand."  real
        programmers can make machines do things that were never in
        their spec sheets; in fact, they are seldom really happy
        unless doing so.  a real programmer's code can awe with its
        fiendish brilliance, even as its crockishness appals.
     
        real programmers live on junk food and coffee, hang
        line-printer art on their walls, and terrify the crap out of
        other programmers - because someday, somebody else might have
        to try to understand their code in order to change it.  their
        successors generally consider it a good thing that there
        aren't many real programmers around any more.
     
        for a famous and somewhat more positive portrait of a real
        programmer, see "the story of mel".  the term itself was
        popularised by a 1983 datamation article "real programmers
        don't use pascal" by ed post, still circulating on usenet
        and internet in on-line form.
     
        jargon file
     
        1997-08-29
     
     
see also:
bare metal op codes high-level languages debugger bum tense 
comments documentation good thing the story of mel real programmers don't use pascal 
usenet jargon file 

Programmer >> P Words
Programmer, definition of term: Programmer
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Real >> R Words
Real, definition of term: Real
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Real Estate, definition of term: Real Estate
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Real Estate Age, definition of term: Real Estate Age
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