Evidence

Format Web Page

"Rhinehart began experimenting with Soylent in January 2013 and mixed the early formula with water."

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Location PART 1 - TONS OF PUNKS, ONE BIG JERK CHAPTER 2: NO MOAT IN BLOAT No Moat in Bloat - Root

Source title Could This Liquid Replace Food?

Source authors Caleb Hannan

Source year 2013

Confidence high

Importance high

Format Web Page

"Rob Rhinehart used about 35 chemical ingredients in his early Soylent experiment, including potassium gluconate, calcium carbonate, monosodium phosphate, and maltodextrin."

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Location PART 1 - TONS OF PUNKS, ONE BIG JERK CHAPTER 2: NO MOAT IN BLOAT No Moat in Bloat - Root

Source title Understanding food fads

Source authors WXXI Public Media

Source year 2025

Confidence high

Importance high

Format Online paper / PDF

"A systematic review of 92 papers identified problem solving and technical challenge among the aspects of software engineering reported as motivating."

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Location PART 1 - TONS OF PUNKS, ONE BIG JERK CHAPTER 1: BENDING THE MOTHERBOARD Coding Is Theory Building

Source title Motivation in Software Engineering: A systematic literature review

Source authors Sarah Beecham; Nathan Baddoo; Tracy Hall; Hugh Robinson; Helen Sharp

Source year 2008

Confidence high

Importance mid

Format Online paper / PDF

"Experienced Microsoft engineers described great software engineers as systematic problem solvers who avoid jumping to conclusions and decompose complex problems into manageable pieces."

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Location PART 1 - TONS OF PUNKS, ONE BIG JERK CHAPTER 1: BENDING THE MOTHERBOARD Coding Is Theory Building

Source title Appendix to What Makes a Great Software Engineer

Source authors Paul L. Li; Amy J. Ko; Jiamin Zhu

Source year 2019

Confidence high

Importance mid

Format Online paper / PDF

"Experienced Microsoft engineers described great software engineers as capable of building accurate mental models of interacting software layers and reasoning about complex interconnections."

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Location PART 1 - TONS OF PUNKS, ONE BIG JERK CHAPTER 1: BENDING THE MOTHERBOARD Coding Is Theory Building

Source title Appendix to What Makes a Great Software Engineer

Source authors Paul L. Li; Amy J. Ko; Jiamin Zhu

Source year 2019

Confidence high

Importance high

Format Online paper / PDF

"A Microsoft study of 5,971 developer workday responses found that developers often felt more positive on development-heavy days when they could work alone and focus on development-related activities."

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Location PART 1 - TONS OF PUNKS, ONE BIG JERK CHAPTER 1: BENDING THE MOTHERBOARD Coding Is Theory Building

Source title Today was a Good Day: The Daily Life of Software Developers

Source authors André N. Meyer; Earl T. Barr; Christian Bird; Thomas Zimmermann

Source year 2019

Confidence high

Importance mid

Format Online paper / PDF

"Peter Naur argued that the primary aim of programming is for programmers to build theories of how problems are solved by program execution, not merely to produce programs."

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Location PART 1 - TONS OF PUNKS, ONE BIG JERK CHAPTER 1: BENDING THE MOTHERBOARD Coding Is Theory Building

Source title PROGRAMMING AS THEORY BUILDING (1985)

Source authors Peter Naur

Source year 1985

Confidence high

Importance high

Format Web Page

"University degrees are overwhelmingly common among founders of US unicorn companies"

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Location PART 1 - TONS OF PUNKS, ONE BIG JERK CHAPTER 1: BENDING THE MOTHERBOARD Lonely Chubby College Dropouts

Source title The Unicorn Founder Board

Source authors Data-Driven VC

Source year 2026

Confidence high

Importance high

Format Web Page

"Two-thirds of developers surveyed by Stack Overflow had a bachelor’s or master’s degree in 2024"

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Location PART 1 - TONS OF PUNKS, ONE BIG JERK CHAPTER 1: BENDING THE MOTHERBOARD Lonely Chubby College Dropouts

Source title 2024 Stack Overflow Developer Survey - Developer Profile

Source authors Stack Overflow

Source year 2024

Confidence high

Importance high

Format Web Page

"Seventy-three percent of surveyed developers said they played video games"

View Source

Location PART 1 - TONS OF PUNKS, ONE BIG JERK CHAPTER 1: BENDING THE MOTHERBOARD Lonely Chubby College Dropouts

Source title State of Developer Ecosystem 2023 - Developers' Lifestyles

Source authors JetBrains

Source year 2023

Confidence high

Importance mid