Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2021/01/23/programming-language-creator-or-serial-killer.html
…
3 Likes
4/10. Well chosen pics.
5 Likes
Is Hans Reiser on there?
12 Likes
I got 9/10, having assumed that Bertrand Meyer was a serial killer because the photo showed him wearing a fez.
I figured this would be somehow related to the death of the creator of Objective-C recently, but he wasn’t on the quiz. Is it some kind of oblique subtweet?
4 Likes
I confess that I mistook Dorothea Puente (~15 dead) for Grace Hopper
I’m very glad to see there are more films about the latter than the former, though. I’ll never understand this country’s obsession* with serial killers. 
*Or the obsession of folks at media companies producing a constant stream of content about them.
13 Likes
I think it’s unfair to blame me for the fact that 2 out of 3 programmers in the seventies and early eighties looked just like David Berkowitz.
Heh, I knew him back in the day. Was saddened, but not entirely surprised.
Always wondered if he was related to Paul Reiser. I thought there was a definite resemblance.
9 Likes
I’m a programmer, still scored 5/10… 
3 Likes
I worked* in IT recruitment for a short period in my career, and that look extended well into the ‘90s! After a few months at that job, I started to wonder if spending so much time staring at soulless equipment wasn’t affecting people. Too many candidates were completely humorless, culturally clueless, or sporting a thousand-yard stare. Thank goodness for background checks and references beyond the basic neighbors’ line, “He always seemed nice - kinda quiet and kept to himself.”
*was drafted by my manager into screening & interviewing candidates during project downtime 
9 Likes
With some programming language creators, I suspect it’s just that they were never caught.
13 Likes
As someone who used to work in IT I can promise it’s not the soulless equipment that gives you that thousand yard stare. It’s the damn customers.
(As for the cluelessness and lack of humor, that’s definitely not been my experience. Gallows humor is the norm, and if you don’t know what you’re doing, you need to learn quick or you won’t last.)
9 Likes
Agreed - also, (mis)management. Those clueless types were ones that didn’t get hired, because the company had teams working at client sites vs. in-house. My manager chose me and another woman to assist with the recruiting that year, and I suspect he wanted to weed out the ones who reacted negatively to us during interviews. When engaged in a staring contest, I always had a few choice questions to make sure the candidates always blinked first. 
12 Likes
I marked Sussman as a serial killer and he was actually my prof in college. Oopsie!
19 Likes
I like that! Some men in the industry get so insecure when approached by a woman in technology (cue popped monocles). I don’t get it. I’ve worked with plenty of brilliant women in my time in tech. Almost as if gender isn’t an indicator of intelligence.
And to be clear there’s a ton of clueless people in IT. People who are unwilling/unable to do anything beyond the script, who can’t answer basic questions, and who just waste time. These people often go to management or get washed out and flit away to another place to make someone else’s lives miserable. Those are the worst.
10 Likes
Had several comp sci guys as housemates when I was an undergrad.
Not sure that there are always significant differences between programmers and serial killers… Is this even a fair quiz?
4 Likes
Need to change the poll to “Programming Language Creator or Convicted Serial Killer?”.
9 Likes
I for one believe that Guido van Rossum has at least inspired one murder. At least that’s what I feel when having to modify a python script on a remote live system…
6 Likes
My first attempt to break my multi-player Flask game into structured packages had me wanting to Trotsky someone with a pick-axe.
3 Likes
Why not both Gif please
2 Likes
4 Likes
