A word about _why, Whyday, and Hackety Hack

Today is Whyday. A programmer’s holiday. Today is the day that we don’t forget that programming isn’t all Agile and driven by behavior and Serious Business. Inside each cubicle, the hacker spirit is trying to burst free. Today, it will.

Today, I’m also releasing a prerelease version of Hackety Hack 1.0. It’s been a long time coming. The announcement of Whyday got me thinking about the past year of a world without _why, and the ‘your domain is about to expire’ notices got me thinking about how I’ve now been the head of the Hackety Hack project for almost 12 months, too. I don’t like thinking about this, because I almost let _why down.

I never met _why. I can’t really claim to know him, or know what his intentions were, but I think about him a lot. ‘_why’ the persona, really embodies everything that I love about software. The world owes _why a great debt, and I’d like to think that I’m doing what I can to repay him.

At least, I am now. I don’t like to think about roughly 6 or 8 months of the last year of Hackety Hack; I did an exceptionally poor job of being a steward. Being alone, having no help, and having a bit of an identity crisis is an excuse; you can decide if it’s a good or poor one. But things have been looking up, and we’ve got some momentum, I owe a great debt to Fela for helping make this summer happen.

I really do feel that the Little Coder still has a predicament, and I’m almost to the point where they can find some solace. I still feel that Hackety Hack could become an absolutely invauable project, I’ve just got to keep going. I can, I will, and I am. But I wouldn’t be able to if so many people didn’t care, say a nice world, or lend a hand.

So thanks. And as ashbb would say, “Let’s all have fun with Hackety Hack!”

Happy Whyday.

EDIT: The release is now out. See the announcement here, and get it here.

Thanks!