What Top Programmers Reveal About Learning, Skills, and Future Trends

Star lineup

Linus Torvalds: Linux kernel author.

Dave Thomas: Author of The Pragmatic Programmer, Programming Ruby and other influential books.

David Heinemeier Hansson: Creator of the Rails framework.

Steve Yegge: Veteran Google engineer and blogger.

Peter Norvig: Head of Google Research, noted AI author.

Guido van Rossum: Creator of Python.

James Gosling: Father of Java.

Tim Bray: Co‑author of the XML and Atom specifications.

Bjarne Stroustrup: Father of C++.

1. How did you learn programming? Which schools? Was it useful?

Steve Yegge: Started on an HP calculator using its RPN stack language at 17, then moved to a PC and Turbo Pascal, eventually earning a CS degree at the University of Washington, which he highly recommends.

Linus Torvalds: Mostly self‑taught by reading books and experimenting on Commodore VIC‑20 and Sinclair QL; later studied at Helsinki University, focusing on theory and fundamentals like complexity analysis.

David Heinemeier Hansson: Began by building a personal homepage, then learned ASP and PHP, later pursued a joint CS and business degree.

Peter Norvig: Studied programming in high school and university but feels most learning was self‑directed.

Dave Thomas: Attended a local college for computer classes, then Imperial College London for a software‑focused undergraduate program.

Guido van Rossum: Attended university with a mainframe and many CS courses; considers it important.

James Gosling: Mostly self‑taught; got his first programming job before university, but values his later CS education.

Bjarne Stroustrup: Studied at Aarhus and Cambridge, gaining practical knowledge useful for his work.

Tim Bray: Intended to become a math teacher; university courses in computer science were largely irrelevant to his career.

2. What skills should a programmer have?

Steve Yegge: Strong written and oral communication; reading, writing, and public speaking are essential.

Linus Torvalds: Good “taste” in code style and the ability to explain decisions clearly, especially in open‑source projects.

David Heinemeier Hansson: Strong values and the ability to ask whether one’s work is valuable.

Peter Norvig: Focus, nothing more.

Dave Thomas: Passion.

Guido van Rossum: No specific answer; humorously mentions cooking an egg.

James Gosling: Self‑motivation and love for what you do.

Bjarne Stroustrup: Clear thinking and the ability to articulate problems and solutions.

Tim Bray: Fact‑based reasoning, not following feelings.

3. How important are mathematics and physics for programmers?

Steve Yegge: Discrete mathematics (probability, combinatorics, graph theory, induction) is very important; calculus useful for occasional tasks like traffic‑load modeling.

Linus Torvalds: A solid math foundation helps; physics less directly useful unless working on simulations.

David Heinemeier Hansson: Mathematics has little use in commercial web programming; writing skill matters more.

Peter Norvig: Mathematics underpins many computer concepts such as recursion and logic.

James Gosling: Mathematics teaches logic and reasoning, essential for algorithm analysis.

Bjarne Stroustrup: Some math is useful; physics is a good way to learn practical math.

Tim Bray: Rarely uses university‑taught math.

4. What will be the next hot area in programming?

Steve Yegge: Web applications will become the dominant client platform, gradually replacing native toolkits.

Linus Torvalds: No huge leap; incremental improvements like higher‑level languages or built‑in databases matter more.

David Heinemeier Hansson: No predictions; the best way to foresee the future is to build it.

Peter Norvig: Large‑scale distributed computing.

Dave Thomas: Focus on fundamentals and delivering value rather than chasing trends.

Guido van Rossum: No crystal‑ball insight.

James Gosling: Parallel replication and complexity.

Bjarne Stroustrup: Uncertain, does not like guessing.

Tim Bray: Unknown.

5. If you had three months to learn a new technology, what would you choose?

Steve Yegge: Learning Dojo, advanced AJAX, and DHTML while building a large web app.

Linus Torvalds: FPGA development, to work closer to hardware.

David Heinemeier Hansson: Cocoa programming on Mac.

Peter Norvig: More JavaScript and Flash.

Dave Thomas: Intensive piano lessons or assistive‑technology work.

Guido van Rossum: Skiing.

James Gosling: Latest 3D rendering techniques.

Bjarne Stroustrup: Deepening expertise in a chosen field.

Tim Bray: Security, encryption, digital signatures, authentication.

6. What makes some programmers 10‑100× more efficient?

Steve Yegge: Ability to focus, akin to elite athletes.

Linus Torvalds: Some people naturally concentrate on useful work.

David Heinemeier Hansson: Turning hard problems into easy ones.

Peter Norvig: Adapting one’s mind to the problem.

Dave Thomas: Caring deeply about their work.

Guido van Rossum: Genetic differences in brain structure.

James Gosling: Thoughtful, deliberate approach.

Bjarne Stroustrup: Strong fundamentals, experience, and tool knowledge.

Tim Bray: Diversity of human thought.

7. What are your favorite tools and why?

Steve Yegge: Unix/Linux OS; Ruby for scripting; Java for its robustness; Emacs editor; SVN (Perforce if affordable); Bash shell; MySQL; Firefox as essential browser.

Linus Torvalds: Custom tools: his own OS work, Git version control, micro‑emacs, and Pine email client.

David Heinemeier Hansson: OS X, TextMate, Ruby, Subversion, MySQL.

Peter Norvig: Prefers Linux/Unix, Python, Lisp, Emacs.

Dave Thomas: Linux, later Mac; a mix of tools that require little maintenance.

Guido van Rossum: Unix/Linux, Python, vi+emacs, Firefox.

James Gosling: NetBeans IDE.

Bjarne Stroustrup: Unix, sam editor, a good C++ compiler.

Tim Bray: Unix‑like OS, dynamic languages like Python/Ruby, Java APIs, Emacs, Bash, NetBeans.

8. What is your favorite programming‑related book?

Steve Yegge: GEB (Gödel, Escher, Bach) or SICP.

Linus Torvalds: The C Programming Language (K&R) and classic computer‑architecture books.

David Heinemeier Hansson: Extreme Programming Explained and Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture.

Peter Norvig: Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs.

Dave Thomas: IBM/360 Principles of Operation.

Guido van Rossum: Neal Stephenson’s Quicksilver.

James Gosling: Programming Pearls by Jon Bentley.

Bjarne Stroustrup: K&R’s The C Programming Language.

Tim Bray: Programming Pearls by Jon Bentley.

9. What is your favorite non‑programming book?

Steve Yegge: Stardust (Neil Gaiman), The Mind’s I (Hofstadter/Dennett), loves Kurt Vonnegut and Jack Vance.

Linus Torvalds: The Selfish Gene (Richard Dawkins), Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land.

David Heinemeier Hansson: 1984 by George Orwell.

Guido van Rossum: Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson.

James Gosling: Guns, Germs & Steel by Jared Diamond.

Bjarne Stroustrup: O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin series.

Tim Bray: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.

10. What are your favorite bands or musicians?

Steve Yegge: Classical (Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Bach), anime/game music (Last Exile, Haibane Renmei).

Linus Torvalds: Classic rock from Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Queen, The Who.

David Heinemeier Hansson: Female guitarists like Beth Orton, Aimee Mann, Jewel, Lauryn Hill.

Guido van Rossum: Philip Glass.

James Gosling: Folk singers such as Christine Lavin, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger.

Bjarne Stroustrup: The Dixie Chicks and Beethoven.

Tim Bray: See his blog for details.