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I'm always baffled by web developers constantly moving to new frameworks and toolchains. I can't really think of other sectors of development that chase as many

I'm always baffled by web developers constantly moving to new frameworks and toolchains. I can't really think of other sectors of development that chase as many fads. I mean its one thing if it solves a significantly new problem, but a lot of times it comes down to like "so and so likes gulp better than grunt or sass better than less and they're going to stall the project for two weeks while they switch the codebase over while pretending they're fixing tech debt". In game development, where developers are frequently on the cutting edge of things, the idea of switching engines and apis all the time for marginal benefits would get you a lot of raised eyebrows, and im guessing desktop app developers and people into scientific computing feel likewise. Don't get me wrong things evolve, but code in those fields doesn't seem to be treated as disposably.

acdha 8y ago
It does in the web world, too, but you don’t hear about it as much because nobody writes self-promotional posts about how they decided not to switch because it wasn’t worth it.
bobbytherobot 8y ago
I counter that perhaps it feels like people are switching all the because there are more people and projects in web development than games or scientific development. Most all games have websites, whereas, few websites have games.
arvinsim 8y ago
Resume Driven Development. No one wants to be left behind because it would hurt your chances of getting a new job.
scabbycakes 8y ago
As a business owner I'd be VERY interested in something (fad or not) that cuts development time and complexity by a substantial amount. As a developer I want to use things that make my life vastly easier and lets me focus on the product rather than the programming. Trying new things and taking risks can yield huge rewards! Of course it can fail spectacularly as well but for those that worry about that a lot, jQuery UI still exists!
sgustard 8y ago
On the one hand, "web developers constantly moving to new frameworks" sounds like a myth. I'd suggest "periodically" instead. I've been a web developer for 20 years, and the first 19 of those years were miserable. It's just an immature field with lousy tools.
Can_Not 8y ago
> I'm always baffled by web developers constantly moving to new frameworks and toolchains I'm baffled why anyone thinks anything like this is actually true. So everytime you see a JavaScript or CSS library or framework posted to HN, you think all JavaScript developers switched to it? Game development has well over 1000 engines to choose from. I don't assume you switched from unity to Godot when it showed up on HN.

acdha 8y ago

It does in the web world, too, but you don’t hear about it as much because nobody writes self-promotional posts about how they decided not to switch because it wasn’t worth it.

bobbytherobot 8y ago

I counter that perhaps it feels like people are switching all the because there are more people and projects in web development than games or scientific development. Most all games have websites, whereas, few websites have games.

arvinsim 8y ago

Resume Driven Development. No one wants to be left behind because it would hurt your chances of getting a new job.

scabbycakes 8y ago

As a business owner I'd be VERY interested in something (fad or not) that cuts development time and complexity by a substantial amount. As a developer I want to use things that make my life vastly easier and lets me focus on the product rather than the programming. Trying new things and taking risks can yield huge rewards! Of course it can fail spectacularly as well but for those that worry about that a lot, jQuery UI still exists!

sgustard 8y ago

On the one hand, "web developers constantly moving to new frameworks" sounds like a myth. I'd suggest "periodically" instead. I've been a web developer for 20 years, and the first 19 of those years were miserable. It's just an immature field with lousy tools.

Can_Not 8y ago

> I'm always baffled by web developers constantly moving to new frameworks and toolchains I'm baffled why anyone thinks anything like this is actually true. So everytime you see a JavaScript or CSS library or framework posted to HN, you think all JavaScript developers switched to it? Game development has well over 1000 engines to choose from. I don't assume you switched from unity to Godot when it showed up on HN.