Why do you conclude that Linus is shitting over Github's pull requests simply because they are different from what he would have done? What possible reason do you have for jumping to such a superficial conclusion?

I'm not going to speculate, but it's clear you are talking out your ass.

Linus has spend the last 20+ years building one of the most important pieces of software in existence. Not only that, but he created git, without which the Github guys, DHH, and everyone else would be using fucking Subversion. The process that he follows for kernel development does not exist out of vanity, it serves an actual proven purpose. Linus' care and attention to detail are a big part of why you can rely on the stability of Linux over time. For you to come in here spouting off some nonsense about why he does this or why he does that without clue #1 as to the real reasons, and then to pay homage to the guys who are "trying something new" all the time standing on the shoulders of said giants, well, it's a slap in the face. Respect is due my friend.

I think you misunderstood that a lot of times so called "new things" are already thought about by those creators. But they may thought about cases that those new things are not a good solutions to problems and they decide to implement them in different way. In Crockford's case, it is the ';' at the end. And he wants to enforce it for clarity. And in Torvalds' case he wants accountability. I don't think they did not consider those new ideas when they start designing json/git, but they choose ways that facilitate programmers to create better/clearer/more accountable ways to solve problems.

I think for all software engineers who are old enough, we all know writing software is a social activity and sometime it is better to make projects manageable.

I think any one who creates technologies has to understand that design decision is an "Opinion".

> Java, C, PHP, all of which I don't use and have no interest in. But there is significant value in all of them and we are all better off for their existence.

I doubt we are better off for PHP's existence (only mentioning the oxymoron "PHP security" should be enough to make this point), many would argue the same for Java (unless you are a consultant or book publisher), and some have argued the same for C.

And just because something is new doesn't make it good, in the programming world the number of square wheels built grows every day, and we are in danger of the resulting mountain collapsing and burying us all in a tangle of inscrutable complexity of bad solutions to problems that were solved long ago.