Steven wrote:
David Abrahams <dave@boost-consulting.com> writes:
Whether anyone has the guts to employ you I have no idea, but I wish you all the best for the future.
Condescension and insult. The implied message is "you will have a hard time finding a job because you are incapable of doing anything of practical value".
Just to express a different interpretation, I read it -- after pausing the first time -- as a compliment. I took it to mean that Brian is so capable that a typical employer would be afraid of him, afraid of not being able to manage and understand his work product. It's a slap to industry and mediocrity at large.
I admit, though, that I read it that way because I couldn't believe that a sane author could intend for it to be taken at face value.
Exactly my interpretation. It was a bit tricky to maintain that interpretation in face of the context in which it was presented, but I managed - see no evil, do no evil :-) What is peculiar is that Andy, if he indeed purported Brian to be Above Employable in some positive sense, missed the fact that, without even knowing Brian, the FC++ library definitely exposes a highly pragmatic side and mastery of this quite industrial language C++. In the aftermath, I am no longer sure whether Andy knew what he was saying and/or thinking about the subject, or w.r.t. Brian's skillset; the only certain opinion I can now extract from Andy's postings is that FP might be rather different from Applesoft Basic. /David