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While all platforms have some measure of this phenomenon, the update treadmill problem does seem to be especially acute in the javascript ecosystem. I update J
by stickfigure 8y ago
While all platforms have some measure of this phenomenon, the update treadmill problem does seem to be especially acute in the javascript ecosystem.
I update Java dependencies maybe once a year; it's usually painless and incompatibilities are highlighted by the type system. If you let your JS dependences get stale by a few months, you're looking at hours or days of work. And that doesn't count the massive shifts in build systems and frameworks that seem to happen annually.
- novaleaf 8y agoI've spent the last 5 years on Node, and honestly most modules are fine. The only ones I've had serious problems with are those created by Google. They keep taking huge complex dependencies on things like Grpc that break between Node versions, and keep churning their other library signatures (or deprecating entire modules). Maybe in the last year they've settled down, maybe not. I learned my lesson and don't take dependencies on them anymore. Much easier.
- tracker1 8y agoI just spend maybe half a day a month updating everything to the latest and testing. There are the occasional gotchas, but it's not so bad... When you leave a codebase to rot for a few years, it doesn't surprise me that it's more painful.