Procrastination v2
There is a way in which this website is a big procrastination machine. Writers used to sharpen their pencils instead of writing.
A central conceit of this site is that there’s a continuity between writing and code. That they are to be accorded equal prestige. 1 If this were really so I would be as neurotic about code as I am about writing. I do ache for every inelegant line of code I write but—as you will unfortunately see for yourself—stuck between inelegance and getting the job done, I choose the latter. 2
If it were completely true that I accord equal prestige to text and code, I would be as neurotic about my code as I am about my prose. I live comfortably with the knowledge that I may not be the best coder in the world, and I cheerfully defer to others, but I could barely pick up a copy of Paradise Lost if I were unable to delude myself that—given enough time—I could have written it myself.
Getting code to work is trivial, at least when it comes to the relatively simple task of convincing a computer to run a website. The difficulty comes with doing that thing elegantly. Making sure the code is communicable to machines and humans alike and the belief that elegance and efficiency are intertwined.
Cf. yakshave