In a way. It's hard to stay focused; they used to say the ultimate for a CS grad... | Hacker News

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ArkyBeagle on June 24, 2016 | parent | context | favorite | on: Why Does Software Rot?

In a way. It's hard to stay focused; they used to say the ultimate for a CS grad was to write the Great American Compiler ( as for an English major it may have been the Great American Novel ). As per Orwell, the hardest thing anyone does is to see what's right under their nose - to stay focused and commit to the most relevant work.

ghettoimp on June 25, 2016 [–]

The idea of committing to the "most relevant work" presupposes that the relevance of different kinds of work can be identified and compared.

Maybe this is possible in some domains and in some cases. But in my experience, relevance is usually a matter of taste and perspective.

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