The Judge’s Code | The Verge

Meet the judge who codes — and decides tech’s biggest cases

Judge William H. Alsup of the northern district of California.  He’s a particularly interesting person, because he has a clue about programming.  He taught himself, decades ago, for hobby.

And my goodness does it come in handy nowadays.  I found the (long) interview an interesting read.  The difference between artistic work and functional matter is highly relevant, but difficult to discern for someone without a clue about coding (most lawyers, judges and juries).

I also noted his middle name is Haskell, whereas he does his pretty nifty programming in QuickBASIC.