378: Real Programmers - Revision history

208.59.176.206: /* Transcript */

2026-01-27T00:55:39Z

‎Transcript

208.59.176.206: /* Transcript */

2026-01-27T00:53:56Z

‎Transcript

Lettherebedarklight: /* Transcript */ add Category:Comics with a Spanish translation

2025-12-15T08:59:40Z

‎Transcript: add Category:Comics with a Spanish translation

172.70.126.140: Dead link

2023-05-12T21:16:45Z

Dead link

172.70.34.187: add lowercase text category

2023-05-12T16:18:30Z

add lowercase text category

JLZ0kTC5 at 05:12, 21 October 2022

2022-10-21T05:12:56Z

172.69.33.163: Undo revision 290716 by Davidy22 the tranny killer (talk)

2022-07-25T03:07:55Z

Undo revision 290716 by Davidy22 the tranny killer (talk)

Davidy22 the tranny killer: Undo revision 290715 by 172.70.211.90 (talk)

2022-07-25T02:54:27Z

Undo revision 290715 by 172.70.211.90 (talk)

172.70.211.90: Undo revision 290649 by Davidy22 the tranny killer (talk)

2022-07-25T02:54:08Z

Undo revision 290649 by Davidy22 the tranny killer (talk)

Davidy22 the tranny killer at 02:30, 25 July 2022

2022-07-25T02:30:38Z

@@ Line 40: / Line 40: @@
 :[A second Cueball-like man appears behind her.]
-:Ed Cueball: Well, <u>Real</u> programmers use <code>ed</code>.
+:Ed Cueball: Well, <u>real</u> programmers use <code>ed</code>.
 :[A third Cueball-like man appears behind him.]

@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 ==Transcript==
 :[A Cueball-like man sits at a computer, programming. Cueball stands behind him and looks over his shoulder.]
-:Cueball: <code>nano</code>? Real Programmers use <code>emacs</code>.
+:Cueball: <code>nano</code>? Real programmers use <code>emacs</code>.
 :[Megan appears behind him.]
-:Megan: Hey. <u>Real</u> Programmers use <code>vim</code>.
+:Megan: Hey. <u>Real</u> programmers use <code>vim</code>.
 :[A second Cueball-like man appears behind her.]
-:Ed Cueball: Well, <u>Real</u> Programmers use <code>ed</code>.
+:Ed Cueball: Well, <u>Real</u> programmers use <code>ed</code>.
 :[A third Cueball-like man appears behind him.]
-:Cat Cueball: No, Real Programmers use <code>cat</code>.
+:Cat Cueball: No, real programmers use <code>cat</code>.
 :[Hairbun appears behind him.]
-:Hairbun: <u>Real</u> Programmers use a magnetized needle and a steady hand.
+:Hairbun: <u>Real</u> programmers use a magnetized needle and a steady hand.
 :[A fourth Cueball-like man enters, facing them all. We see him facing the last two Cueball-like men and Hairbun.]
-:Butterfly Cueball: Excuse me, but <u>Real</u> Programmers use butterflies.
+:Butterfly Cueball: Excuse me, but <u>real</u> programmers use butterflies.
 :[A Cueball-like programmer is standing much like Butterfly Cueball except for holding out a butterfly in front of his computer. The butterfly flaps its wings.]
@@ Line 56: / Line 56: @@
 :[The next two panels are smaller, and two sets of narrative text are written to span respectively above and below both panels. The first panel is the Cueball-like programmer with the butterfly and above him four curved arrows pointing up or down. The second panel shows the upper atmosphere, with large clouds far below and the earth even further down. Also here are shown seven of the same type of arrows.]
 :Butterfly Cueball (narration above the panels): The disturbances ripple outward, changing the flow of the eddy currents in the upper atmosphere.
-:Butterfly Cueball (narration below the panels):  These cause momentary pockets of higher-pressure air to form,
+:Butterfly Cueball (narration below the panels): These cause momentary pockets of higher-pressure air to form,
 :[The next two panels are also partial height, leaving room for narration spanning above both panels. The first panel shows the atmosphere, again with clouds, and four parallel lines coming from above, and then they begin to merge, getting quite close at the bottom of the panel. The second panel shows the four lines merging on a driver platter.]

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:59, 15 December 2025
Line 78:		Line 78:
	[[Category:Rankings]]		[[Category:Rankings]]
	[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]		[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]
		+	[[Category:Comics with a Spanish translation]]

@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 When the final character suggests the utterly surreal idea of using butterflies, he is referring to the {{w|Butterfly effect in popular culture|Butterfly effect}}, a "phenomenon whereby a minor change in circumstances can cause a large change in outcome" as illustrated in the short story {{w|A Sound of Thunder}}. The joke at this point relies on stretching the connection between the ideas of "difficult-to-use" and "requires detailed understanding of underlying principles," to suggest that not only do ''Real'' Programmers know everything about how computers work, but they know how to manipulate the ambient physical environment in elaborate ways to cause computers to do what they want, akin to performing {{w|trick shot}}s that accomplish feats of programming.
-The fact that Emacs already has a command for this simply exacerbates the other programmers' frustration with modern coding tools. For reference, Emacs commands are usually referred to by the keyboard sequence required to activate them, such as "C-x M-c" (Control-x Meta-c (this would be typed by holding control and pressing x, releasing both, then holding alt and pressing c, then releasing both)), though this exact key sequence is a bit different from most Emacs commands. The butterfly programmer saying "Dammit, Emacs" plays on Emacs' notoriety for its kitchen sink design approach of including all of the features and options that anybody might ever conceivably want. For example, later versions of Emacs actually added a totally useless "M-x butterfly" command as an easter egg, in reference to this very comic: see the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQtxhuX6ano YouTube demo].
+The fact that Emacs already has a command for this simply exacerbates the other programmers' frustration with modern coding tools. For reference, Emacs commands are usually referred to by the keyboard sequence required to activate them, such as "C-x M-c" (Control-x Meta-c (this would be typed by holding control and pressing x, releasing both, then holding alt and pressing c, then releasing both)), though this exact key sequence is a bit different from most Emacs commands. The butterfly programmer saying "Dammit, Emacs" plays on Emacs' notoriety for its kitchen sink design approach of including all of the features and options that anybody might ever conceivably want. For example, later versions of Emacs actually added a totally useless "M-x butterfly" command as an easter egg, in reference to this very comic.
 The title text further suggests manipulating the {{w|Physical constant|universal constants}} in order to create a universe in which the required computer data will exist. Programming of this sort would require power and knowledge akin to the Abrahamic God.

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:18, 12 May 2023
Line 77:		Line 77:
	[[Category:Physics]]		[[Category:Physics]]
	[[Category:Rankings]]		[[Category:Rankings]]
		+	[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==Explanation==
-This comic is a satire on the idea of a {{w|Real Programmer}}. To quote Wikipedia "...the computer folklore term Real Programmer has come to describe the archetypical 'hardcore' programmer who eschews the modern languages and tools of the day in favour of more direct and efficient solutions—closer to the hardware." The implication is that modern programmers are coddled by today's tools of the trade, which eschew detailed understanding for simple workflows.
+This comic is a satire on the idea of a {{w|Real Programmer}}. To quote Wikipedia "...the computer folklore term Real Programmer has come to describe the archetypical 'hardcore' programmer who eschews the modern languages and tools of the day in favor of more direct and efficient solutions—closer to the hardware." The implication is that modern programmers are coddled by today's tools of the trade, which eschew detailed understanding for simple workflows.
 The first figure is writing a piece of code when another programmer ridicules him for using {{w|GNU nano}}. Nano is a {{w|text editor}} - a program often used to edit the source code of other programs. It is basic and relatively easy to use, even having instructions displayed prominently at the bottom of the screen. He goes on to say that "REAL" programmers use {{w|Emacs}}. {{w|GNU Emacs}} is a popular editor known for its vast profusion of features and extensions to perform all sorts of functions beyond simple text editing, and is widely regarded as one of the best examples of software that succeeds despite being fully overtaken by {{w|feature creep}}. The comic continues from here as a series of programmers state progressively more obscure or outdated methods, culminating in the final programmer who claims that "real" programmers use butterflies.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀<br>
+{{comic
 | number    = 378
 | date      = February 1, 2008