This is a great book--it starts with JWZ (duct-tape programmer) and ends with Donald Knuth. (One theme that runs through the book is that nobody likes C++ and n

This is a great book--it starts with JWZ (duct-tape programmer) and ends with Donald Knuth. (One theme that runs through the book is that nobody likes C++ and nobody uses debuggers.) When I read that section, I wasn't really convinced. Not that programming is not quite different than it was way back when, but the difficulty that we face is that there is so much more software around. Some bad, some good. Many more useful tools. For example, since I started programming the following innovations have significantly added to tools that we have to apply to programming: * The C language. Much better than writing high-performance code in assembler. * SQL. The power of SQL is extraordinary. * Lots of disk space. Now we don't have to store our programs on punched cards. * Extraordinary increase in memory. * Networking, beyond dial-up connectivity. * Other highly useful languages, such as Python * Google, probably the top-used resources by programmers * IDEs The illusion that we are hampered by lots of choice is a bit illusory. Usually our programming environment is set not by our own individual choice, but often by the environment we plug into--by what resources we are going to access, and other team decisions.