An Open Letter to Everyone I've Butted Heads with (2025)
The author reflects on their decade-long journey with the programming language Zig and the interactions they've had with others. They express a love for people despite experiencing negative interactions, attributing some of these issues to the complexities of programming language technology. The author emphasizes the challenges faced by programmers in adapting to changes in technology and the emotional responses that can arise from these situations.
- ▪The author has been involved with the Zig project for ten years and has maintained an active role throughout.
- ▪They acknowledge the impact of programming language technology on people's work lives and the frustrations that arise from it.
- ▪The author expresses a deep love for people and a desire to understand the reasons behind negative interactions.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
An Open Letter to Everyone I've Butted Heads With Note: This blog post is not a reaction to recent events or some kind of apology. Nothing happened; this is just me doing self-reflection. Zig turned 10 years old, and I've been thinking a lot about the project overall, and what another ten years of my life might look like. More specifically, I've been thinking about my interactions with people over the years, both positive and negative. Since Zig's inception, I never stepped down from the "creator" role. Although the core team has grown to about five active people, I never stopped triaging. I never stopped thinking critically about the language. I never stopped helping newbies get their bearings. I never stopped welcoming contributors to join the project. I never stopped reviewing code.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Andrewkelley.
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