[TUHS] SNOBOL and RATSNO

[Larry McVoy]

On Tue, Aug 09, 2022 at 01:42:32PM -0400, Noel Chiappa wrote:
>     > From: Rob Pike
> 
>     > I still marvel at the productivity and precision of his generatio
> 
> We noticed the same thing happening in the IETF, as the number of people
> working on networking went up. The explanation is really quite simple, once
> you think about it a bit.
> 
> If you have a very small group, it is quite possible to have a very high
> level. (Not if it's selected randomly, of course; there has to be some
> sorting function.) However, as the group gets much larger, it is
> _necessarily_ much more 'average' in the skill/etc level of its members.

I used to complain about this at Sun and was dryly told "We get it,
Larry, you are yeast.  You need flour to make bread."

And as time went on, I found that the smart people tended to find each
other.  So it was fine.

It is more fun when it is a highly curated group of smart people.  Made
me work hard to keep up.