reading 10: linus torvalds

It was really neat to read the story of Linux and how hackers worked together just for fun to create an operating system of everlasting value. One of the coolest aspects of the story is that Linus Torvalds didn’t aspire to create the international phenomenon that he did. He was really just trying to address the shortcomings of Minix. It was funny that he accidentally destroyed his Minix partition, which made me recall how I accidentally wiped my Windows partition on my Microsoft Surface Go 3. Looking back, I really wish I hadn’t gone with a Microsoft product, but I was a naive, budding computer scientist (and at least it only runs Linux now).

Linus gained access to computers at a young age, which obviously helped him to become a very talented programmer by the time he was in college. His unique family situation afforded him the ability to stick around the house and invest all his efforts into programming. I think his relationship with his mom was tremendously important because she never really questioned what he did or pushed him to get a job.

I think Linus’s real motivation behind creating his own operating system was the fact that he was using his computer so much and it didn’t perform and act exactly how he wanted it to. One can only put up with bothersome things for so long, and I think Linus eventually reached that point where he could no longer live with Minix’s bad terminal emulation and lack of job-control functionality. Thus, it was really a solo endeavour, but when others caught on to what he was doing, they realized the impact of it and wanted to contribute.

It’s hard for me to say what my current itches are right now. One thing I’m very interested in doing is putting up a board game on Board Game Arena. I think the learning curve will be a little high, especially because I haven’t programmed in PHP and only have limited experience with SQL. I was able to set up the environment last spring, but I haven’t done much with it since. I do love that Board Game Arena is fully open source code, and it’s great for me to play a game quickly without having to set up the game and find people to play with me. Maybe my itch right now is really getting comfortable with Linux. I think there’s a lot I could learn, so I can see myself digging into How Linux Works or the Linux Bible.

I definitely want my story to be more like Linus’s in the sense that he was just doing what he did best to fill a gap in the world. It seems like people often sacrifice their morals and happiness to make good money, but I aspire to find that job where my greatest talent meets a need in the world. In my opinion, there are many companies that don’t fill a need in the world (including many social media apps), so I’m definitely veering away from those as I apply to work for different companies. I hope that I can have as much fun in my career or side projects as Linus did in creating Linux, but only time will tell.