回想起来就像是在昨天。那是2000年，在数据结构课程的课堂上，Pargas博士站在前面给我们讲一些关于数据结构的话题，一个SSH的画面投影在我们前面的墙上。有人问了一个问题，他说了一些东西，差不多是这样的话“是这样，如果你想成为一个真正的计算机科学家，你需要从现在开始就使用vi编辑器”。我想他是在笑谈，课后感觉他说的话并不是完全的正确，但作为年轻且容易被感染的我，回到寝室立刻就开始学习如何使用vi。学习过程不容易，花费了不少时间，但一旦掌握了其中的窍门，我发现，使用vi的确可以更快的做事情。
I remember it like it was yesterday. It was the year 2000, Dr. Pargas was standing at the front of our data structures class talking about some data structure-y topic while an SSH session was projected on the wall in front of us. Someone asked a question, and he said something along the lines of “Well, if you want to be a real computer scientist you need to start using vi”. I think he was smiling as he said it, and in hindsight his statement wasn’t even slightly true, but being young and easily influenced like I was I went back to my dorm room and immediately took up training myself how to use vi. It was rough going for quite a while, but once I started to get the hang of things I realized that I could work really quickly in vi.
时间推到6年前，那时我对TextMate十分的着迷。我的工作是做Java开发，但同时我学习Rails，在业余时间开发一些Rails项目。那时几乎所有我读的文章和观看的视频都是说明和演示如何使用TextMate来完成文本编辑工作的方法技巧的。事实上，我每天都在使用的Eclipse想要把我变成一头蠢猪。于是，我买了一台Mac电脑，开机后十分钟内我就买了一套TextMate装了上去。
Flash forward 6 years, and I was enamored with TextMate. I was working a job doing Java development, but at the same time learning Rails and working on Rails projects in my spare time. It felt like every article I read and screencast I watched was demonstrating how to accomplish text editing zen with TextMate. The fact that I was using Eclipse every day was filling me with nerd rage. So I bought a Mac and within 10 minutes of turning it on had purchased TextMate.
说老实话，这两种编辑器没有一种使我成为一个更好的程序员。
I can honestly say that neither text editor change made me a much better programmer.
优秀的工具并不会把你变得更优秀。你使用的工具确实很重要。事实上，它们非常棒。但老虎伍兹即使用几根树枝也能把我们全部打败，梅西即使不穿鞋也能把我们踢的很惨，拉斐尔-纳达尔即使使用一个60年代产的老式木质网球拍也能把我们任何一个人打败。该死，他即使用乒乓球拍也能打败我们。技术，知识，以及锻炼出来的经验是你在与人对比中最重要的部分。
Great tools just don’t make you that much better. Your tools are really important. They’re wonderful, in fact. But Tiger Woods would beat all of us with a junky set of clubs, Messi would outplay us without any boots on, and Rafael Nadal could probably beat any of us on a tennis court with a classic wooden racket from the 60’s. Heck, he could probably beat me with a ping pong paddle. The skills, knowledge, and experience that you’ve built up are the most important part of the equation.
所以，工具造就不出程序员。那什么可以呢？我想，造就一个伟大的程序员的诸多因素都依赖于你所从事的事和与你共事的人，但从很多在软件开发领域取得了巨大成功的人身上，我看到了很多共同的特征，我觉得值得与你们分享一下。我并不确定这些特征你是否能学得到，或者你天生就有，但我强烈的感觉到，如果我能花更多了时间去追求这些特征，而不是钟情于更换编辑器，我一定能取得更大的进步。
So tools don’t make the programmer. What does? I think many aspects of what makes for a great programmer depend on what you’re working on and the people that you’re working with, but I’ve seen some common traits in people who have had a lot of success in software development that I felt were worth sharing. I’m not sure if these are skills that you can pick up or if they’re things that you’re born with, but I feel pretty strongly that I’d be in a great position if I worked a bit more on these traits and a bit less at switching text editors.
以人为本／People First
我知道的最好的程序员总是把人放在第一位。他们明白他们是在为人写软件，即使那只是一些复杂系统的后台程序或协议，除了程序员没有人会用到它们。他们写文档，因为这很重要。他们帮助其它人如何使用自己的程序代码。他们愿意付出更多的努力去解决更复杂的问题来让人们以正确的方式使用他们的软件。
The best programmers that I’ve known put people first. They’ve realized that the software that they’re writing is for people, even if it’s just the back end of a complicated system or a protocol that no one but other developers will ever use. They write documentation because it’s important. They help people use their code. They’re willing to work extra and deal with a bit more complexity to give the people using their software the right solution.
