I think both factors were relevant, as well as the preciousness and pace of it all, as discussed by others here.

-rob

On Wed, Aug 10, 2022 at 1:15 AM Andrew Hume <andrew@humeweb.com> wrote:

rob, clem:

has there been a shift in ability? or is this more likely a sampling bias
(because there were so many fewer programmers then)?

On Aug 9, 2022, at 6:34 AM, Clem Cole <clemc@ccc.com> wrote:

On Tue, Aug 9, 2022 at 2:12 AM Rob Pike <robpike@gmail.com> wrote:

I still marvel at the productivity and precision of his generation of programmers.
Amen.