There’s a pastagang blog post about the mantra “let code die”.
The mantra basically means that you should let things go: you should let go of things and let them end when it’s time for them to end.
When live coding music or visuals, it’s a helpful reminder to delete your code: so that you can make space for more / for something else.
At some point, pastagang added this paragraph to the blog post:
If you are grieving or otherwise sensitive to mortality, you can thing of this concept as ‘let it float down the river’.
It provides an alternative way of phrasing the mantra, in case you are grieving.
However, when I first wrote the “let code die” mantra, I was grieving myself: for someone who was very important to me. The whole point of the mantra is that it’s related to grieving. The mantra is about grieving.
In small cases, it’s about grieving your code or your work. In bigger cases, it’s about moving on from a death, or overcoming trauma, or moving on.
The mantra is not “make code die”. You’re not going out of your way to end things. But when they have ended, it’s about handling things gracefully and healthily. Let it go.
Whatever the case, I think it takes some boldness / bravery to let code die. It means stepping into a world / future of uncertainty. What will happen when your code is gone? What will happen when you start from scratch? Will the world ever feel the same way? No it won’t.
“Let code die” is a reminder of the mortality of all things, including ourselves. I am going to die, which means I need to make the most of it right now, while I am still alive, which means I need to move on from things, even when it feels like the world will never be the same / will never be so warm / will never have that smile again.
back to the wikiblogardenite.