Keep this in mind the next time you have to work on somebody else’s code:

So I am a bit lucky in that my father is a very experienced programmer who also gave me the bug. One of the first things he said to me when I started programming for more than just fun or OSS, was that he never judged other programmers code. He would correct it, point out flaws in it, but always with a suggestion of how to do it better. The reason for this is that in the world that we have to live in, of deadlines, PHBs and evil marketing folks who spring new features on a development team right before a release, you never know why someone’s code is the way it is.[...]

source: mprorock on reddit

Seems everybody has an opinion about the movie Geert Wilders is working on. Even though the movie is not released it is already causing quite a stir. I don’t understand it. Why judge it before it has been even released?

Although I strongly disagree with virtually everything Geert Wilders stands for, I’m also a strong proponent of free speech. I really like this quote (apparently by Evelyn Beatrice Hall and not Voltaire as I first thought) which quite clearly explains my personal view on this subject:

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

Given the current state of affairs in Dutch politics a quote by Erasmus might be better:

“In a free state, tongues too should be free.”

source: Erasmus, The Education of a Christian Prince (1516).

Our politicians seem more inclined to explain that they cannot forbid this film (yet?), rather than explaining that freedom of expression, freedom of speech among others are of fundamental and utmost importance for a free society such as we (still?) have in the Netherlands.

“Dus: Hé Twitter, Flickr op met je posts en je spam, blijf met je bijde benen op Google-earth en don’t believe die Hyves. Ik Digg die lelijke Facebook van je niet.”

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‘We do not promote satanism, belief in magic, drug use, violence, sexual deviation, body piercing, cynical attitudes towards the government, freedom of expression, or any other action or belief not condoned by the authorities.’

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