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JavaScript, Python, PHP, and HTML are developer tools? (yes, they're listed in four of the top ten spaces of Application & Data Tool of the Year) Isn't that lik
by ohyoutravel 10y ago
JavaScript, Python, PHP, and HTML are developer tools? (yes, they're listed in four of the top ten spaces of Application & Data Tool of the Year) Isn't that like saying the #1 business tool is "The English Language"? I guess I expected a list of things people use like this one (which is phenomenal):
"Scott Hanselman's 2014 Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tool List for Windows"
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/ScottHanselmans2014UltimateDeveloperAndPowerUsersToolListForWindows.aspx http://www.hanselman.com/blog/ScottHanselmans2014UltimateDev...
- gglitch 10y agoI'm not missing the point of your satire, but I'd love it if more people considered language arts a powerful tool worth mastering to an advanced degree.
- ProAm 10y agoReally its the IDE or text editor that you should master, what you put into it is just icing on the cake.
- x1798DE 10y agoI think the GP meant language arts as in writing, speaking and communicating in human languages, not programming languages. Not sure why you would need an advanced degree in that, though.
- Arzh 10y agoYeah you can call the language a tool, since most languages can get the same job done but some do certain jobs better.
- ysavir 10y agoJavaScript has consistently beaten out any other language as the client-side language of choice in both my personal and professional projects. Clearly, it deserves the top spot.
- shuntress 10y agoI believe the grandparent is attempting to make a distinction between a tool and (for lack of a better term) a material. With the idea being you use tools to shape your materials to create your end product. You carry the tools with you from project to project but the materials stay in place. To use the normal house-building analogy, I would say that the Tools are obviously saws, drills, etc. Things that you use on every house you build but that are not part of the house itself. These represent notepad, visual studio, git, etc. The Materials are wood, nails, etc. Things that make up the house and are not removed when the builder leaves. These represent the actual code (ie, lines/libraries of javascript) you build with your tools. e: So it's like saying the #1 carpenter's tool is wood.
- ysavir 10y agoSure, but that's ultimately irrelevant. The survey should be demonstrating choices made by developers, but (web) developers don't have much of a choice when it comes to using JS. Unless you want static HTML, JS is in your stack. In that sense, including JS is rather moot, unless it's exclusively about NodeJS. If it is about Node, then I retract my point.
- Arzh 10y agoI don't think that is a good analogy. The end product (app/house) is what the code actually does. What you use to make that product is a tool, including what language you use.
- bobpaul 10y agoI agree. It's just like how a carpenter's best tools are English, arithmetic, and blueprints.
- Arzh 10y agoAll those things do help, but a carpenter can do the same job with an axe, a saw, a chisel, a knife, or a froe but in the end what they are doing is cutting wood. If you're a programmer and you don't look at languages as a tool you are doing yourself a disservice. In the end you just need something to turn some data into a different kind of data, everything else is a tool to do that one thing.
- minimuffins 10y agoThe results are in, folks, and The NUMBER ONE programming tool of the year IS: The general purpose computer! Let's hear a round of applause! The article reads like an ad for a bunch of commercial services. I was really hoping for things I could apt-get/brew install <excellent new tool>.
- SkyMarshal 10y agoUnfortunately general purpose computing appears to be dying, slowly but surely. Talos recently wrote a good survey of the problems: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13361389 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13361389
- sean_patel 10y ago> Isn't that like saying the #1 business tool is "The English Language"? This. Love it! Exactly my thoughts on seeing the click-baity OP.
- acobster 10y agoI also really like how Atom, Sublime Test, and Vim are "DevOps tools."
- Philipp__ 10y agoVim is, the rest, hardly.
- whatever_dude 10y agoI have to agree. This list is either terrible, or it has terribly named categories comparing unrelated technologies to each other.