+++
date = "2019-06-11T07:00:00+01:00"
title = "Joe Armstrong the rubber duck"

+++

Joe Armstrong passed away a couple months ago. This
was a sad day, completely unexpected to me, and he
will be sorely missed.

https://jlouis.github.io/posts/joe-goodbye/[Great]
https://ferd.ca/goodbye-joe.html[eulogies] were written.

My most striking memory of Joe was during dinner at
his place after a conference in Stockholm many years
ago. Joe was describing his rubber duck debugging
method and introduced us to his famous rubber duck.

"When you can't figure it out, ask the duck!"

I then had the greatest idea. What if I could get
a rubber duck built in Joe's likeness? Surely there
is no greater mind than the combination of Joe and
his rubber duck.

As great an idea that was, I had to settle for the
next best thing. I suppose custom rubber ducks are
not in high demand.

image::/res/joe_the_rubber_duck.jpg[Joe Armstrong the rubber duck]

I will honor your memory by continuing to work on
and with Erlang, and I thank you in advance for the
help you'll send my way during those difficult
rubber duck debugging sessions.

Goodbye Joe.
