Paul Graham is my new hero. His essays on various computer and philosophical topics are awe-inspiring. I haven’t read nearly all of them yet, but Great Hackers and Taste for Makers are both wonderfully insightful.
His reasoning has really got me to begin reexamining my choices as a programmer and computer user, at a time when I was already beginning to do so. (I think his articles have just accelerated the process.) It’s definitely time for me to work harder expanding my horizons, learn additional tools, and spend more time experimenting. I predict that Paul Graham is influencing my thoughts on programming in much the same way that David Sirlin has for competitive gaming and game design.
It worries me that Graham likes Lisp so much, though. Can Lisp really create great, efficient software and handle issues of user interface effectively? I feel obligated to find out, now. Who knows? Maybe in five years I’ll be hardcore pro-Lisp. But somehow I doubt it.