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It's a bit disturbing how much people in this industry are focused on tooling. That strikes me as such an odd critique, and I can't make it work for any other

It's a bit disturbing how much people in this industry are focused on tooling. That strikes me as such an odd critique, and I can't make it work for any other industry; you certainly wouldn't apply it to something like dentistry, or oil refinery, or plumbing. If I went in for a root canal and the dentist said "We're gonna kick it old school today, sniff this rag of ether, I'm bored with all these tools!" I would grab the nearest scalpel and slowly back away. But yeah, if you're working on boring problems the tools won't do much to mask it.

felipemnoa 7y ago
>>That strikes me as such an odd critique, and I can't make it work for any other industry; you certainly wouldn't apply it to something like dentistry, or oil refinery, or plumbing. A software developer's job is to create software. Almost like an author. Some more than others. At the end of the day, no matter how good your pen is, it will not write a great book for you.
- willbw 7y ago
  I see your point, but I think you can't ignore the power of tools. Most software created itself is a tool, a tool which typically leverages the speed of computing to perform a task hundreds, thousands, or millions of times faster than a human could. Think making a bank transfer - I can do this in 5 seconds on my phone now, which would take me over an hour to physically head into a branch and do it in person, and even then we are relying on computing power at the branch itself. Why would we, as software developers, act like we aren't going to use tools ourselves? For productivity, for a more pleasant (or even just less frustrating) experience? I initially was a vim + printf debugging stalwart, but having been in a Java environment grew to realise the immense power of an IDE like IntelliJ and how beneficial it is. You can detect errors in the code almost immediately, so spelling mistakes and missed semicolons aren't a thing. You can fix them in a fraction of a second. If I write a function that could be written in a clearer way, or I'm not sure what type I should write for a variable, it will suggest it immediately and I can follow that suggestion with a press of a key. Yes, it cannot write great software for me. But if you have worked with software where there is no autocompletion, poor debugging and profiling tools, then I find it hard to believe that you don't think that the addition of these tool can help you write at the least MORE software, and probably even BETTER software. It is not the same as writing a novel, as much as I would like to romanticise that it is. It is about organising and coordinating components to work together, and for this tools can be a tremendous help.
- jbigelow76 7y ago
  Eh, I'm not really seeing the analogy to an author, whose final product is the words on the page, so in that you are right that the kind of typewriter wont help much. But a developer's code isn't the final product, it' an input to an output, and good tooling can potentially make a mediocre dev better (within limits), by catching compile time bugs, by enforcing constraints, maybe, by exposing functionality (autocomplete), enabling profilers or debuggers, etc...

felipemnoa 7y ago

>>That strikes me as such an odd critique, and I can't make it work for any other industry; you certainly wouldn't apply it to something like dentistry, or oil refinery, or plumbing. A software developer's job is to create software. Almost like an author. Some more than others. At the end of the day, no matter how good your pen is, it will not write a great book for you.

willbw 7y ago
I see your point, but I think you can't ignore the power of tools. Most software created itself is a tool, a tool which typically leverages the speed of computing to perform a task hundreds, thousands, or millions of times faster than a human could. Think making a bank transfer - I can do this in 5 seconds on my phone now, which would take me over an hour to physically head into a branch and do it in person, and even then we are relying on computing power at the branch itself. Why would we, as software developers, act like we aren't going to use tools ourselves? For productivity, for a more pleasant (or even just less frustrating) experience? I initially was a vim + printf debugging stalwart, but having been in a Java environment grew to realise the immense power of an IDE like IntelliJ and how beneficial it is. You can detect errors in the code almost immediately, so spelling mistakes and missed semicolons aren't a thing. You can fix them in a fraction of a second. If I write a function that could be written in a clearer way, or I'm not sure what type I should write for a variable, it will suggest it immediately and I can follow that suggestion with a press of a key. Yes, it cannot write great software for me. But if you have worked with software where there is no autocompletion, poor debugging and profiling tools, then I find it hard to believe that you don't think that the addition of these tool can help you write at the least MORE software, and probably even BETTER software. It is not the same as writing a novel, as much as I would like to romanticise that it is. It is about organising and coordinating components to work together, and for this tools can be a tremendous help.
jbigelow76 7y ago
Eh, I'm not really seeing the analogy to an author, whose final product is the words on the page, so in that you are right that the kind of typewriter wont help much. But a developer's code isn't the final product, it' an input to an output, and good tooling can potentially make a mediocre dev better (within limits), by catching compile time bugs, by enforcing constraints, maybe, by exposing functionality (autocomplete), enabling profilers or debuggers, etc...