On Admiration
William Grosso @ July 5, 2008
Recently, I ran across Richard Monson-Haefel’s statement that he admires James Gosling.
RMH wrote:
My admiration for him is based on that fact that he invented a platform that was not only interesting and exciting but a platform that is perhaps the most successful programming platform in history. There are more Java software developers and more Java software than just about anything else - the possible exception might be C/C++.
Now, I don’t actually know Gosling, and he may well be admirable, but this struck me as incredibly wrong. Fathering Java is a great accomplishment, and a reason to envy Gosling.
But admire him? Not so much.
The people I admire are the people who try to figure out what they should be doing, and have the courage to walk away from what they shouldn’t be doing (no matter how safe or lucrative)1.
Taking a risk, finding yourself, and smiling while doing it– that’s admirable.
Matt was, for a brief moment until he got lazy and settled down in Seattle, very admirable.
- Don’t draw any false conclusions here. I’m pretty sure I’m doing what I should be doing.↩
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I don’t envy Gosling. I admire him. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to create a new programming platform that gains any acceptance? Java didn’t just happen by luck - if you think it was just timing or something you would be wrong.
First off you have to do something technically unique or at least do it better than anyone before you to get noticed. Second you have to do something that solves a real problem for lots of people. Gosling did that.
To say that a person’s admiration for an inventor that has had a significant impact on the world is “incredibly wrong” is just plain weird.
Envy was the wrong word. The thing I’m noodling on these days is the difference between “respect” and “admiration”
There are lots of people who have accomplished a lot, who aren’t admirable. I respect what they’ve done without admiring them. And it strikes me that blurring the difference between respecting what someone has accomplished and admiring them is a pretty big mistake.