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I like this blog, but sometimes it goes off a few bytes.
If you, for instance, take into consideration people from other parts of the world (me), other continents and other countries. On one hand, some of them would have known of one or two people from the list, but most of them wouldn’t know a single name on that list.
I would’ve passed the test, but thats only because I read allot and frequently review and rewrite code from some of those great programmers whose names have passed my memory buffer registers over the years.
People that I know and whom I have worked with would have certainly failed this test, because they refrain from code, computer or any other kind of history. They thrive on their programming skills and their mathematical and logical sense of seeing things. Who’s to say that they also don’t belong on that list.
I would present you with my own list of people, carefully selected, chosen if you will, who’s code I glanced upon and who’s programs I ran night after night, but who would care?
The creators of C and Java are not in that list, as someone previously stated.
Chill out folks. I worked with someone that would ask you to tell a joke in the middle of the interview to see how you did under pressure and to guage how well you got back on track after. Stop taking everything so literally people, it’s not like he said he’s not hire someone in the past because they couldn’t indentfy Brandon Eich.
Thanks for the book references !
My captcha read ‘flower-power’ & the next one read ‘poisoned of’ !
This is similar to people who get upset with pro athletes for not knowing the big names in the history of their sport.
I recognized Donald Knuth’s name, but then I looked him up on Wikipedia and apparently didn’t know a damn thing about him. Oh well. I probably just saw his name on this site at some point, likely from one of the book reviews.
Jeff takes out stick and whacks the hornets nest again, way to go!
If you don’t like it, quit subscribing, quit reading, quit being so pompous and commenting on how superior you are.
For me, I doubt that these people would ever come up in an interview, but if someone were discussing the correct way to write Java, and they did not know of Bloch, I would have to wonder. Where did this person learn these things?
LOL, love your musings Jeff but I think someone is just filling ‘dead air’ here.
I only vaguely recognised Knuth and I’ve programmed for 20 years. Reading their papers and books may make me a better programmer but remembering their names won’t, it’s just trivia.
If an interviewer struck me off his list of potential candidates for this I’d think ‘good luck’ (and probably thank my lucky stars).
I’d say that this is an immediate retarded statement:
"I also realized Coders at Work can potentially serve as a job interview filter. If the next programmer you interview can’t identify at least one of the programmers interviewed in Coders at Work and tell you roughly what they’re famous for …
Frances Allen Joe Armstrong Joshua Bloch
Bernie Cosell Douglas Crockford L. Peter Deutsch
Brendan Eich Brad Fitzpatrick Dan Ingalls
Simon Peyton Jones Donald Knuth Peter Norvig
Guy Steele Ken Thompson Jamie Zawinski
… I’d say that’s an immediate no-hire. "
What in the world would that have to do with hiring a young kid out of college who can not only code but can provide conceptual solutions, learn the business, and work hard? Geeez.
“If the next programmer you interview can’t identify at least one of the programmers interviewed in Coders at Work and tell you roughly what they’re famous for …”
That is a pretty arbitrary thing to disqualify someone for – but I guess to each their own.
The only requirement that I make when I hire someone is that they can solve a Rubik’s cube in under 60 seconds while naming the previous U.S. presidents in alphabetical order.
I started reading the books few days ago after reading “Founders at Work”, another good book. I usually skip the “How did you start programming” to save time. I have read too many TRS80/Apple II stories.
Being a developer using Microsoft tools for long, I noticed there are tons of tools being used out there. At Google, for instance, they use stuff I never heard of.
There are so many good programmers out there, this book could be in volumes.
+1 for Ian Bell. Likewise Paul Collingwood, Owais Shah and Ravi Bopara
I see where Jeff is coming from. If you don’t care about your craft, you are never going to be a master. Competent, certainly. Master, never.
That’s the inescapable truth. As long as you are doing rout work, just going with the flow of whatever framework is the latest fad, you can be perfectly competent, but you are just not pushing the limits.
If you are pushing the limits, then you’ll get to talk to people, to learn what was tried, what worked, what didn’t. You’ll build upon he work of others.
If you aren’t interested enough in computer science to know at least some of the important people in the field, you aren’t, and never will be, a master.
And if you think that list is too limited, you may be partially right. But I’m pretty sure Jeff would hire you if you answered you don’t know any of them, but you know X, Y and Z because of this and that. It shows you CARE about the profession, instead of it being just a day-job.
So, complain away as much as you want. I wouldn’t hire you either.
Its funny, because if someone asked me that question in an interview, I wouldn’t take the job. 
Of course it’s only a joke, but it is interesting to compare this with Jeff’s other interview joke:
"What’s the worst code you’ve seen recently?
If their answer isn’t immediately and without any hesitation these two words:
My own.
Then you should end the interview immediately."
It seems for Jeff it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.
Do the blokes of the list all know each other or would they “no-hire” themselves?
Good stuff. But it makes me wonder…
With all the statements Jeff has made about who he would not hire, would he would even pass his own tests? 
ahh jeff u never learn do u…?
Oh god. Why is everyone who writes a comment here so massively insecure?