Specifically, the fourth bullet point under "Talking to a Dying Person" is
> "There's this experimental cure people are talking about," Which gets the ban hammer from me, and happily I only got a few of those. Even if there was a miracle cure, the cost and stress (to others) of seeking it is such a selfish and disproportionate act. With, as we know, lottery-style chances of success. We live, we die.
But zmq really played a important role in my life. I was burned out with programming two years ago and took a long extended break. Then in the depth of my lull, I took a look at zmq and really took to its minimalism and the do-it-yourself philosophy.
I really liked reading the documentation too. Actually it is the most memorable experience, my interpretation was that the zmq User Guide ("Zen of Zero") has a particular attitude: that everything has a singular focused purpose, yet it is also unpretentious, knowing full well the limitations of its circumstances and limited scope; and once a particular role has been decided for a particular situation, one should try do one job simply and well and get out of the way of others.
Perhaps this attitude is already expressed well in philosophy books. But for me, it was applied and ingrained in grokking zmq and coding with it. I could go on and talk about building a zmq demo helped me in getting my next job or created a Github repo on an zmq adaptor for protobuf. But just technical details behind the "Zen of Zero".
I'm really happy to hear that this project brought you out of a bad place. I think it did that for me too (after AMQP).
Although I've never got the pleasure of meeting you in person, your open-source work (and yes, the zeromq User Guide too!) has made an big impact on me and I want to say thank you for what you've done.
The frank humility of that answer has stuck with me over the years. And that simple 15min conversation has resulted in hours of contemplation. So thank you for making me think.
There are several people whom I have been following and consider to be my "embedded systems heroes", and you are one of them. I am so sorry for your diagnosis.
It may not give much consolation, but perhaps there is a blessing in being given a chance to say good bye.
I'm not sure how much it will mean, but I will be keeping you in my prayers.
I cannot begin to say how much I love your work. Thank you!
Happy to receive on PayPal at ph@imatix.com. I will give my family the keys to that so they can put it aside for ma wee bairns...
Thanks for suggesting this.
I've always thought that were my time to come, I'd want some way to pass on any last bit of valuable knowledge to those who come after me.
If it's any consolation, I think that you are definitely in the category of giants. I hope that your remaining time is as pain free as it can be.
Well, it all started when I was about three, and I discovered ants. Fire ants, to be specific. Biting me all over cause I'd chosen to hide right on top of their nest. There's a lesson there.
I'm not lost for words on your contribution to open source, how we think about systems, and the great legacy of building blocks you've left for the rest of us to carry on building with. Your work and writing was like a sledge hammer to the way I thought about systems. After I was exposed to the ZMQ Guide and years of building systems with ZMQ, I saw the problems and their solutions in a very different way. Thank you for being that hammer - I owe you and am sad that I won't get the chance to say thank you/buy that beer in person.
I always think that as long as my children, and their children etc. live then there is a part of me that will never die. I think that if I ever produced anything that had near the impact of ZMQ, then I would include that in the list of things that told the world that I was here after I am gone.
The only question I have for you is, what made you realise that an open source approach was the way forward for your work?
All the best Pieter, and thanks for all that you will leave behind - especially the community.
Sorry to hear about the sad news. It's the kind that usually leaves one speechless.
Anyway, I want to thank you for the Imatix webserver (blast of the past), Libero and the first few chapters of Scalable-C and all the other snippets of knowledge and wisdom which I'm happy to carry around on my head. Good stuff.
The net is a better place with people like you.
I loved the book. Thank you for your contributions to the world by writing it, and your contributions to open source. I'm sorry I never got the chance to meet you.
Now go have some fun.
I'm fighting off a resistant infection that has decided to invade my lungs as well. My definition of fun is to get the doctor to turn up the oxygen one more notch. "5 litres per hour man? Are you crazy? Ye cannae handle it!"
http://www.amazon.com/Meditations-New-Translation-Modern-Lib...
I didn't know who you were before today, but I now know you are a badass sir. Had a very close friend last year diagnosed with same disease / prognosis. My heart goes out to your and your family.
All the best.
Many thanks for sharing your ideas and views on the world, they have planted a seed in many a mind. Your influence is far greater than many could imagine.
I did a small PoC for my team using zeromq a few years ago. The performance was way above other related systems.
Thank you for your contributions.
