It was 1985, and I was in a chartered bus in New York City, heading for a press reception with a bunch of other restless media egomaniacs. I was only beginning my media career (as technical editor for PC Tech Journal) and my first book was still months in the future. I happened to be sitting next to an established programming writer/guru, with whom I was impressed and to whom I was babbling about
one thing or another. I won't name him, as he's done a lot for the field, and will do a lot more before he's through if he doesn't kill himself smoking first.
But I happened to let slip that I was a Turbo Pascal fanatic, and what I really wanted to do was learn how to write Turbo Pascal programs that made use of the brand new Microsoft Windows user interface.
He wrinkled his nose and grimaced wryly, before speaking the Infamous Question:
"Why would you want to do that?" I had never heard the question before (though I would hear it many times thereafter), and it took me aback. Why? Because, well, because…I wanted to know how it worked.
"Heh. That's what C's for." Further discussion got me nowhere in a Pascal direction. But some probing led me to understand that you couldn't write Windows apps in Turbo Pascal. It was impossible. Or...the programming writer/guru
didn't know how. Maybe both. I never learned the truth. But I did learn the meaning of the Infamous Question.
Note well: When somebody asks you, "Why would you want to do that?" what it really means is this:
"You've asked me how to do something that is either impossible using tools that I favor or completely
outside my experience, but I don't want to lose face by admitting it. So,...how 'bout those Blackhawks?"