Bill Joy's greatest gift to man – the vi editor
My favorite quote in the article:<p>> "So you didn't really write vi in one weekend like everybody says?"<p>> No. It took a long time.<p>Nearly every day I come to this site and skim past headlines resembling "Check out my weekend project!" or "Look at the awesome business idea I put together in 12 hours!!"<p>While I understand there can be a great sense of accomplishment to come up with an idea and pull it together in a short amount of time, I far more appreciate projects that people have dedicated months and years of their lives to.<p>Forget weekend whims.  Dedicate yourself to an interesting project for 6 months or a year and then tell me what you've learned.  You may suddenly find yourself in high enough demand that you're no longer able to spare the weekends to waste on something to show off on HN.