Watched the talk a few years ago. Several times. It really hit home. Before, I would try to introduce abstractions as soon as I had one instance of duplication. After, my code has more duplications, less nesting, less abstractions. It's easier for a newbie to understand (or myself down the line), it's easier to delete and modify. I've shared the mantra "duplication is better than the wrong abstraction" with colleagues on many occasions.
In my country you can apply for social housing online - but you never know when new listings will be published. So I built a scraper that used a telephony api to give me a call when a new listing was published. On a Friday night I got my automated call, looked at the listing and immediately booked a place on the queue. I was second. But the first person must have said no to the flat, so I got it. Paid very low rent for the few years that I had it. They added a captcha soon after.
I imagine it would be great to sit through my commute, while typing something on my knees, with the touchscreen keyboard integrated into the fabric of my trousers.
