TITLE: The Two Meanings of Grace, in Software
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: April 06, 2023  2:59 PM
DESC: 
-----
BODY:
 In a recent blog post,
<a href="https://avdi.codes/why-grace-matters-for-software-developers/">
   Why Grace Matters (for Software Development)</a>,
 Avdi Grimm tells the story of how he came to name his training
 site "Graceful.Dev".  Check it out.  This passage resolves into
 the answer:

<blockquote><em>
 You know, the word "grace" is interesting, because it has two
 different meanings.  On the one hand, it means beauty in lines
 or in motion.  But if you were raised with a religious background
 anything like mine, you know that grace is also something that
 <b>saves you</b>.
 <br/><br/>
 And in that moment on the dance floor, I realized that these
 two meanings of grace are really one and the same thing.  Because
 grace is something that makes space for you to screw up, and then
 turns it into something beautiful.
</em></blockquote>

 I don't think I was raised in the same religious tradition as Avdi,
 but I was raised in a tradition that valued deeply the notion of
 grace.  Grace manifest in sacrament was a powerful notion to me,
 one of the religious ideas I found most compelling as I was
 growing up.

 That's probably why Avdi's realization strikes close to home for
 me.  I carry the idea of grace present in other parts of my life
 as part of my cultural DNA.  His connection of grace to software
 feels right.  "Grace makes space for you to screw up, and then
 turns it into something beautiful." -- I imagine that many
 programmers know this feeling, in an non-religious way, if only
 vaguely.
-----