Everyone calls Anders Hejlsberg a hero because he programmed turbopascal in uncommented assembly code and left Borland because Microsoft offered him more money.
How is this person a hero, in your eyes? Real heros comment source code. Real heros work for companies because they enjoy the job.
Everyone remembers back.. those were the days.. back when we didn't comment source code and wrote turbo pascal in unmaintainable, uncommented assembly.
I sit here and question why "those were the days"? To me, that seems like shit. Those were shitty days - they must have been.
From my perspective, I don't respect Anders, or think of Anders as a hero. I see him as a selfish, immature, arrogant genius jerk.
Loads of genius programmers are jerks in their primary stages of life when they can hit it big.
A lot of doctors are genius jerks who are very skillful at their profession, but lack social skills - such as commenting on and writing up on their scientific findings.
A lot of programmers are genius jerks who are very skillful at their profession, but lack social skills - such as commenting source code.
I take a big risk writing this article, because a lot of Pascal folks will probably be hurt when they see it. But it's honest. It's reality. Some programmers need to get a clue and step off their high horse.
Update
After watching some videos with Anders in them, it appears he at least admits the mistakes that he made.. such as keeping the source code to himself. I found some videos on Channel9.
As for leaving Borland.. he claims he left so that he could invent a new language.. not for money. Somehow I doubt this though. He stated that he was staying at Borland when Bill Gates called him. He said he made the final decision to stay at Borland when bill was on the phone. But something got him convinced to go to Microsoft when Bill asked Anders 'what is it going to take?'. And then he went to microsoft after that.
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