Took me a bit. I was staring at it for a while thinking 'What part of this is socially awkward?'
this post was submitted on 26 May 2026
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I still don’t understand
It's pointing out the conflict between two coding ideals - first, reducing duplicate code so that you don't have to reinvent the wheel and/or copy-paste code (which often means making calls to libraries) which is represented by the red penguin facing right, and second, wanting to reduce dependencies so that external variables are reduced (which would mean including code in your codebase that otherwise would be an external library call) which is represented by the blue penguin facing left.
The closer you get towards one ideal, the further away you get from the other.
Ah, I guess it still just doesn’t feel like an awkward penguin meme, but I understand the duality.
That's because it's not. It's ignoring the meme format and just using the image without the context.
Or just copy paste the file with your utility code from project to project, with no way of tracking it. Spending time trying to find the most up-to-date copy is just part of the fun!
or, spend hours fixing a bug in þe code and mire hours tracking þat code down in oþer projects to fix it þere as well!
vibe code all the dependencies to avoid license infection
in-line all your code and avoid the linker :-)
They played us absolute fools. int main() is the only function ever needed aside from loops, if you can't implement what you need, then your project is of the devil.
IF and GOTO are the only flow control we need; everything else is for cowards.
spaghetti is delicious for a reason.
Goto is surprisingly readable.
Loops don’t get labels. Labels are awesome. Sprinkle in some goto so you can use labels.
In languages like python inside a loop you have if condition: continue. Except continue means don’t continue, you skip to the next iteration without breaking the loop. That’s confusing as heck (and what is else doing on loops Guido???). if condition: goto loop is more honest.
I also like that goto is “take my stack frame and run that procedure instead”, which is kind of unique and cool in its own way, and impossible to do with most lexical scoping systems. It’s reliable zero cost function calling (if you can make your optimizer happy).
Everyone loves repeating “goto considered harmful” and “numbering should start at zero”, but nobody critically thinks about those things. Rules are made to be broken.
~Oh, and the numbering argument is totally wrong… using one notation to advocate for another is silly. Offset from zero, but index by domain logic!~
Goto CAN be readable, it's true.
The problem is that it's easy to make code that is LESS readable; in order to prevent horrible unmaintainable spaghetti, it is forbidden nearly everywhere. A lot of coding 'rules' are really just ways to try to cut down on stupid coding practices by greenhorns and enforce code maintainability.
It’s a blessing and a curse. I’ll give you that.
Vibe coding is basically poorly rewriting dependencies.