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I'm not demoting you (I mostly agree with you, actually), just noting that part of that lack of self-awareness comes from how many programmers seem to consider
by silentbicycle 16y ago
I'm not demoting you (I mostly agree with you, actually), just noting that part of that lack of self-awareness comes from how many programmers seem to consider anything written more than a couple years ago obsolete.
It makes sense when dealing with surface details in rapidly changing web APIs, but otherwise that approach condemns programmers to starting from zero and wasting time re-discovering fundamentals.
"Mathematicians stand on each others' shoulders and computer scientists stand on each others' toes." — Richard Hamming
- Udo 16y agoSorry, I misunderstood then (probably because my comment got negative karma at the same time). To clarify: I don't think anything written more than a couple years ago is obsolete. But I do feel that this particular article by Joel already caused maximum havoc and people have moved on from it for a good reason. Otherwise I agree with you as well :-)
- silentbicycle 16y agoMy comment was nothing personal about you, but about the industry at large. While I've been programming since I was a kid, my academic background is in history - Viewing the industry through that lens reinforces how it's collectively in an early phase where people still fall to their deaths trying to fly with wings made of wax and feathers. There have been plenty of people with real breakthroughs, but the average programmer probably hasn't even heard of them. I mean, their work is already obsolete, right? See also: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1743145 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1743145