‘Lookfar’ is my personal blog and article archive, wherein I muse on software, history, religion, and a few other topics. Lookfar’s twin eyes remind me that, while the past is the seed of the future, each step into the future shows us a new view of the past.
Software development is a ‘magical’ art that requires passion, thoughtfulness, and discipline… and I can think of no better mythos that combines these elements than the story of Ged the Archmage, in the EarthSea series. For the 40+ years that I’ve been writing software, this story has haunted and inspired me. Ged learns that the only true way to mastery is to turn and face, to own, that which he most fears. And so, I believe, it is with software.
In the articles categorized to the right, I’ve tried to weave together technical detail with this sense of facing what we fear, illumined by the history of relevant developments in software to this point. I hope you enjoy them, and I welcome your feedback.
Charles Roth
Ann Arbor, Michigan
“…as a man’s real power grows and his knowledge widens, ever the way he can follow grows narrower; until at last he chooses nothing, but does only and wholly what he must do…” (Ged, to Lebannen, in The Furthest Shore)
Related links:
- Family website: thedance.net
- Family photo gallery: zen2.caucuscare.com
- Static-page blogs: thedance.net/~roth/TECHBLOG
- Caucus (open-source web forum/LMS): caucuscare.com
Like your home page! I’d forgotten the source of Lookfar–graphic goes well with your quotes and description. Looks like the tile I got you long ago. Looking far–er, forward to upcoming posts.
I’m sad to note that Ursula K. LeGuin has left us. There is a good telling of her life at https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/obituaries/ursula-k-le-guin-acclaimed-for-her-fantasy-fiction-is-dead-at-88.html
There’s also a great set of quotes from LeGuin at https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/874602.Ursula_K_Le_Guin
And a great article about her, and a documentary about her life, at https://www.neh.gov/article/ursula-k-le-guin-was-creator-worlds
I’ve just come from speaking (and listening!) at Agile & Beyond 2019, and have two new articles:
1. My talk on “Unit-Testing: Carrots & Sticks”, at http://lookfar.caucuscare.com/index.php/2019/05/24/unit-testing-carrots-and-sticks/
2. My write-ups from A&B, with links, at http://lookfar.caucuscare.com/index.php/2019/06/01/agile-beyond-2019/