Founder connections
- Brian ArmstrongRecommended as an essay collectionArmstrong praises Paul Graham’s writing and points readers to this book for printed versions of some essays. The post does not say he read the whole collection.Source
Summary
Paul Graham’s essay collection looks at the people who make software and the ideas behind their work. He compares programming with other forms of making, considers why nerds can be unpopular and discusses wealth, startups and the choice of programming languages.
The essays move between broad arguments and examples from software work. Topics include developing taste, questioning accepted ideas and choosing tools that let a small team do more. The book presents Graham’s view of the computer age and the craft of building things in it.
Why read it Our view
Read it to examine how you make product and technology choices. Graham’s essays encourage attention to craft, user value and the room a small team has to choose its own tools. They are also useful for asking when accepted practice helps and when it limits what you can build.
Keep the claims open to debate. A strong personal argument can give you a useful question without proving that the same answer will fit your business.
Decisions from the book
Choosing Lisp for Viaweb
- Decision: Graham and his cofounder needed a language that let a small team build and release features quickly.
- Action: They chose Lisp for the server-based store builder and treated the choice as a test of development speed.
- Outcome: Graham reports that the team could sometimes match a competitor’s announced feature within a day or two. He presents this as the result of their experiment.
Written about
- Paul GrahamAuthorGraham identifies this book on his site and provides its table of contents. It was published by O’Reilly in 2004.Source