This thread was split from Elixir Moments - please feel free to add your programming heroes with pics and stories if possible 
https://twitter.com/eddiekao/status/989473633348108289
Haven’t been on Twitter for a while, logged on and this pic of two of my programming heroes was at the top
Edit: Ok… why are they heroes of mine?
If it wasn’t for Ruby, I wouldn’t have got into programming. I tried other languages and was just put off by their idiosyncrasies - none of them ‘felt right’ and they just made me feel like programming wasn’t for me. But then I found Ruby, and fell in love. It just felt so intuitive, so natural and when I looked at my Ruby code it looked beautiful - totally the opposite of what some other languages make me feel like! I also loved the fact that Matz was a nice guy. Sincere, with humility and being caring and sensitive; a gentleman.
It was actually through Ruby that I first ‘met’ José 
I put some suggestions forward for one of his libraries and he was very receptive and encouraging. I didn’t end up using the library but never forgot how nice he was 
Later, he went on to answer mine, and I’m sure many others’, prayers - of something ‘better’, something that could help us with the kinds of challenges that big ideas may face on the modern web. One of the reasons I never started on my big project (a social network) with Ruby and Rails was because deep down I felt it couldn’t handle what I needed it to (scale-wise)… and… José (and Chris) came along with a REALLY powerful solution: Elixir and Phoenix! At last - mere mortals like you and I could chase our dreams and take on the big boys and girls in the industry.
On top of that José is just a really nice guy. He’s incredibly smart too, not just when it comes to computer science, but in his judgement (and faith) in others. I also like that he’s for equality - which is dazzlingly obvious through the Elixir Code of Conduct
