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As an amateur programmer, it really does feel like Electron would be one of those things that's absolutely garbage except for literally everything else which is

by jrm4 5y ago

As an amateur programmer, it really does feel like Electron would be one of those things that's absolutely garbage except for literally everything else which is even worse. I am able to do and automate all sorts of very cool and amazing things that wow friends and family, mostly through bash as well as some Python. And then there's GUIs. It makes no sense that they are this hard to program. If it's the tiniest bit more complex than something that can be done with Zenity, it's probably not going to happen. Nothing comes close to being as easy as some web-type GUI, which aren't themselves that easy.

criddell 5y ago
Furniture made by a very skilled craftsperson is often beautifully finished even on the surfaces you don't normally see. Quick and easy may often be the best way to do something, but sometimes you end up doing things the hard way because you care about making the best thing you can.
- asoneth 5y ago
  This is a great point. I have a few pieces of furniture hand-made by skilled craftspeople and they're lovely. But most of my furniture still comes from Ikea and the like because it costs at least an order of magnitude less to build and ship. Electron will continue to grow in popularity for similar reasons.
  - criddell 5y ago
    Electron will continue to grow for sure. There is, however, a big difference in the effects of scale. The marginal cost for another piece of high quality (or even low quality) furniture is high. The marginal cost for one more copy of Microsoft Teams is almost nothing no matter which technology Microsoft uses to make it.
    - jrm4 5y ago
      But what about productivity lost by not using something better like Discord sorry couldn't help it
- jrm4 5y ago
  I don't buy this argument for software in the least; it presumes this zero-sum tradeoff between "effort to build" and "quality of outcome" that I just don't believe actually necessarily exists in a medium of infinite reproduceability like software. In my experience what's really happening here is the "hypercard" problem. Namely, there is a tendency, perhaps subconscious, for programmers (or perhaps meta-programmers) to NOT make "tools for building" too easy because they're scared of writing themselves out of a job or a market -- or they're trying to create or retain some exclusivity. I'm not necessarily saying this is always evil, but it's always a thing to consider and is likely happening all the time.

by jrm4 5y ago

criddell 5y ago

Furniture made by a very skilled craftsperson is often beautifully finished even on the surfaces you don't normally see. Quick and easy may often be the best way to do something, but sometimes you end up doing things the hard way because you care about making the best thing you can.

asoneth 5y ago
This is a great point. I have a few pieces of furniture hand-made by skilled craftspeople and they're lovely. But most of my furniture still comes from Ikea and the like because it costs at least an order of magnitude less to build and ship. Electron will continue to grow in popularity for similar reasons.
- criddell 5y ago
  Electron will continue to grow for sure. There is, however, a big difference in the effects of scale. The marginal cost for another piece of high quality (or even low quality) furniture is high. The marginal cost for one more copy of Microsoft Teams is almost nothing no matter which technology Microsoft uses to make it.
  - jrm4 5y ago
    But what about productivity lost by not using something better like Discord sorry couldn't help it
jrm4 5y ago
I don't buy this argument for software in the least; it presumes this zero-sum tradeoff between "effort to build" and "quality of outcome" that I just don't believe actually necessarily exists in a medium of infinite reproduceability like software. In my experience what's really happening here is the "hypercard" problem. Namely, there is a tendency, perhaps subconscious, for programmers (or perhaps meta-programmers) to NOT make "tools for building" too easy because they're scared of writing themselves out of a job or a market -- or they're trying to create or retain some exclusivity. I'm not necessarily saying this is always evil, but it's always a thing to consider and is likely happening all the time.