I've never seen someone write "&" as a total replacement for "and". I don't like the way it makes me feel.

I saw it on HN before (and did not like that, either), while now noticed it in another submission by the same user, on a similar topic. [0]

Apart from that, as mentioned in another comment here, the article's content seems no less strange than the style.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30358271

&y'du think so?