I have known Pieter since around 2002. We didn't meet or talk that often, but usually we would have a fun few hours every FOSDEM. On one of those occasions we defined "our" religion, stallmanism.com Pieter transferred the site and domain to me a few days ago.<p>In the past few months I have been almost obsessed with consuming everything he wrote and published. It is exactly my way of thinking. Of questioning reality and turning it upside down so it works even better.<p>I will miss him. And I will continue to learn from him. We all knew this was going to happen, he was most transparent in keeping us informed about it. So I am sad, yes. But I am also immensely grateful and positive.<p>Pieter, it was an honour and a privilege to have shared time with you. Peace for you.
I have a degenerative spinal condition, 38 years old, no idea if/when the degeneration will reach the point where I need to use a ventilator or when my faculties will dip below a certain point on the [CGS][1].<p>But when these things start looking more imminent, I hope I have the courage to do what he has just done, I really do.<p>Incredibly brave decision.<p>[1]:<a href="http://www.glasgowcomascale.org/" rel="nofollow">http://www.glasgowcomascale.org/</a><p>Edited to Add: Added link to the Glasgow Coma Scale, shouldn't have assumed knowledge of it.
This keeps me up at night. I hope the collective advancement in science makes it possible to defeat cancer some day. I believe/hope that my contribution as a insignificant CS-student helps somebody develop tools that help somebody researching etc.<p>I am really convinced that every advancement is connected somehow and the collective improvement in efficiency and livings standards makes it possible to commit more resources and train even more students to work on hard problems.<p>Even the work on something unrelated like React might somehow help if you observe humanity as a whole.<p>Also f*ck cancer (i read the guidelines and i found no statue against insulting cancer, if there is a user named cancer its a misunderstanding and you should really consider changing your username)
If I were going to die, I'd feel very sad but not because of me nor because of my wife or friends. They are adults and they must deal with this.<p>I'd feel that I let down my children and couldn't give them a happy and careless childhood without having to deal with the cruelty of reality.<p>So, may his kids have the strength to deal with it without losing their light-heartedness.
Pieter: I don't know if you are reading Hacker News at this point or not. Most likely not. I respect your rights and understand the challenge you are faced with. We don't know each other but your work has touched me profoundly as a fellow technologist. All I have to say is I am crying at the moment. I'm crying because I feel very helpless. As a fellow human I am unable to do anything to help you. I am sorry.
From the article Confessions of a Necromancer:<p>if you have the trust of your client, and s/he has real power, you have done half the work already.<p>don't make stuff and then try to sell it unless you are growing an existing client base.<p>breaking into markets you don't know is probably impossible.<p>Build up trust with the client and sometimes they will reward you for it.<p>When you've paid for all the mistakes, you should know how to do it right the next time.<p>A good specification lets diverse people work together without confusion or conflict.<p>If you can test each piece alone, and you have reliable ways of putting them together, the whole should work.<p>Don't be afraid to charge the real cost.<p>be aware of your expenditure and manage your losses. You can survive a long time with less income if you are in tight control of what you spend.<p>What's good software?
Good software is used by people to solve real problems. Good software saves people money, or makes them a profit. It can be buggy, incomplete, undocumented, slow. Yet it can also be good. You can always make good software better yet it's only worth doing when it's already good.
I've been completely blown away with Pieter's courage and willingness to share his journey. I hope I have 10% the dignity when my time comes!
I don't know you, Just read <a href="http://hintjens.com/blog:115" rel="nofollow">http://hintjens.com/blog:115</a><p>Thanks for the your contributions and sharing the journey.<p>To fellow HN users: Please check out "Think of the Children" and donate if possible. thanks!
Having recently started using ZeroMQ at work, I must admit that Pieter gave the world a really elegant message queue solution.<p>The world is losing another great hacker.<p>Would a black bar be considered?
Context: <a href="http://hintjens.com/blog:115" rel="nofollow">http://hintjens.com/blog:115</a> and other recent posts by Pieter.
Few hours ago there were this discussion on HN: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12631488" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12631488</a><p>And now we have this tweet from someone I respect very much, someone who took part of his time too tell his feelings on how you could/should treat someone that is having his final moments.
Just wanted to mention that in previous posts Pieter mentioned that donations (he was not soliciting them) for his kids and family could be sent via PayPal to ph@imatix.com . I did not know him personally so I cannot speak for his situation, but in those posts it was apparent that he was not a wealthy man (my take on the conversation). I could not imagine leaving my children to fend for themselves in this world. It struck me that our children are so similar in ages.
I find this post along with the comments unsettling, but I am unable to articulate why. (It is not the choice, nor the announcement of the choice. There is something about the dynamic here that doesn't sit right with me. Apologies for my failure to elaborate.) I wish him the best and deeply appreciate his sharing part of his journey.
I'm a bit sad that so many here go on tangents instead of finding out what Pieter really is/was about. Trust me, when you go through his blog entries at hintjens.com and read his books, you will find yourself in a magic wonderland of better ways to program and be happy. This is not a sad day.
He has left us a lot of work. I knew about ZeroMQ, "The Psychopath Code" [1], "The Devil's Wiki" [2], could we make a summary here as a tribute?<p>[1] <a href="https://github.com/hintjens/psychopathcode" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/hintjens/psychopathcode</a><p>[2] <a href="http://wiki.hintjens.com/" rel="nofollow">http://wiki.hintjens.com/</a>
Pieter,<p>Thank you. For everything. I'm sure the rest of the community shares my opinion that you've contributed so much to the field.<p>For all that it matters, I wish you a pleasant departure.
When does a computer scientist stop being a computer scientist?<p>It's sad seeing Bob and Alice used in such a morbid context but at least we know we'll be thinking in terms of protocol, complexity, and CS even on our death beds. It's something that will never leave us.<p>I've read very little of his work. I think I'll change that.
Like many others, I've never met him, but he has touched my soul.<p>I enjoyed his writings on community building most. He himself being a very approachable person, taught me everything we do is about people, not software. I'll definitely miss him in the days to come.<p>Peace Peter.
I don't know what to say. I just knew Pieter Hintjens when he wrote posts about his condition, fighting cancer that he has. By that time, I also just knew that you're a great man behind ZeroMQ. I used your works and it's such an amazing library.<p>Thank you for being transparent about your condition. It makes me to remind about death. I am sorry. Thank you for contributing everything what you have done for people in the world.<p>Peace Pieter. You will be missed.
This should remind us that life can be short and will end one day anyway. So we should try to enjoy every bit of it and don't waste time with bullshit.<p>R.I.P. Pieter Hintjens.
For more about Pieter Hintjens check out <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Hintjens" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Hintjens</a>
Fighting Cancer
<a href="http://hintjens.com/blog:123" rel="nofollow">http://hintjens.com/blog:123</a><p>Heart-wrenching.
Sad to read this. And actually also a bit surprised, considering that 2 weeks ago he posted an article that mentioned "This is a short book more than an article. I'll continue to revise it over time, according to your comments."<p><a href="http://hintjens.com/blog:125" rel="nofollow">http://hintjens.com/blog:125</a>
I've never met Pieter, but I have enormous respect for him. His writing is some of the most insightful there is, and it changed my thinking on a lot of things, especially outside of computer science.<p>He finished his book Confessions of a Necromancer recently. It's well worth a read:<p><a href="https://www.gitbook.com/book/hintjens/confessions-of-a-necromancer/details" rel="nofollow">https://www.gitbook.com/book/hintjens/confessions-of-a-necro...</a><p>I don't really know what to say anymore. I will always admire him.
Just watching Pieter's interview with Adam:<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApqI9XLRk4k" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApqI9XLRk4k</a><p>Thank you for the journey, Pieter.
It makes me sad that I'm only becoming aware of this man and his work through the announcement of his chosen death.<p>Thank you HN for exposing me to worlds I would never otherwise discover.<p>On a personal note, I definitely will be using 0MQ in all my future projects. As a matter of fact, I'm glad I found it exactly this moment.
If anyone here hasn't listened to his "protocol for dying" episode of The Changelog from several months ago, you really should: <a href="https://changelog.com/205/" rel="nofollow">https://changelog.com/205/</a>
Pieter, I always really appreciate the conversation here. It was a pleasure to have the back-and-forth with you on HN. Your username is one of the few that I routinely recognize and it will definitely be missed.
I'm pretty astounded at how some pretty cool guy's decision to die has morphed into people talking about themselves.<p>I'm a geek, I sort of get it, but aren't the people talking about themselves and their choices and their views even slightly ashamed? Could we have a fucking moment to just honor this guy? I don't even know him, I'm just cringing.
I was moved by his blog post, few weeks back, on HN. As a token of my respect, I just bought his book, The psychopath code[1]<p>[1] <a href="http://hintjens.com/blog:_psychopaths" rel="nofollow">http://hintjens.com/blog:_psychopaths</a>
His post on living systems is absolutely great, just discovered thanks to his thread...<p><a href="http://hintjens.com/blog:74" rel="nofollow">http://hintjens.com/blog:74</a>
Pieter,<p>I don't know you, and I don't even know who you are, but my heart goes out to you. Nobody should have to suffer in pain, and I deeply respect you for taking control of your last moments.<p>Fare thee well.
Very saddening to hear something like this. But after knowing his work in software it's even more hurting. Rest in peace sir. You have our deepest respects.