marten3113 hours ago
Yep, been leveraging immutability for years now to avoid nasty race conditions on our performance-sensitive services. It's a game-changer.
xyzsparetimexyz11 hours ago
Since when did optimization get called 'mechanical sympathy' wtf? I hate the term
jalk10 hours ago
Since 2011 according to this: https://martinfowler.com/articles/mechanical-sympathy-princi...
beastman827 hours ago
100% right.
Martin Fowler cited Martin Thompson of LMAX who cited Sir Jackie Stewart of Formula One
my-next-account9 hours ago
Race driver Jackie Stewart supposedly said “You don't have to be an engineer to be a racing driver, but you do have to have mechanical sympathy.”. Makes sense, to me, the race car is probably a bit closer to the way you'd treat your horse or something, to a driver.
Anyway, that's where we get the term from.
ElevenLathe8 hours ago
"Probably any one of the boys from the Palace Flophouse could have made the truck run, for they were all competent practical mechanics, but Gay was an inspired mechanic. There is no term comparable to green thumbs to apply to such a mechanic, but there should be. For there are men who can look, listen, tap, make an adjustment, and a machine works. Indeed there are men near whom a car runs better. And such a one was Gay"
^one of my favorite excerpts from my one of my favorite novels, Steinbeck's /Cannery Row/
wood_spirit9 hours ago
I like the term. It’s a good way to think about programs and data structures etc.
xyzsparetimexyz9 hours ago
I will never have either sympathy or empathy for a machine.
Twisol8 hours ago
It's the same "sympathy" as in "sympathetic resonance" [0]. It has nothing to do with pity or the like.
HPsquared9 hours ago
Understanding and feeling for what the machine is doing. Just like fitting together metal parts, or handling a car around a corner.
apefulsin8 hours ago
Perhaps it's more to do with Muratori-style non-pessimization
Edit: Ha! It was mentioned by name in the questions section.