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As an amateur my experience is that having the exact right tool for a job is way better than having the very best quality of the almost right tool. Also for to

As an amateur my experience is that having the exact right tool for a job is way better than having the very best quality of the almost right tool. Also for tools with consumables, the quality of the consumables matters way more than the tool that you put them in.

DavidPeiffer 3y ago
>Also for tools with consumables, the quality of the consumables matters way more than the tool that you put them in. I fully agree. I wasted hours dealing with brad nails that didn't go in all the way, only to bend over when I tried to nail set them. Paying more for Brad nails fixed the issue almost entirely.
__MatrixMan__ 3y ago
I'm not sure I agree. Eventually your garage is totally full of exactly the right tool for some job or other and you can't find anything because there's tools in the way. It applies to software too. If all of the complexity in your project is placing the perfect tools and configuring them correctly, you end up with a codebase that's 90% tool-specific and even coders that think they're fluent in your language of choice have a steep learning curve if they're gonna work on your project because the complexity is no longer in the project's alleged language, it's now in 15 separate DSL's that they've never heard of. There's a balance to be struck here. I see this especially often in python projects with complex pre-commit configurations. It's like we secretly need that compilation step, even if our language doesn't strictly require it, and it just becomes a rug to hide overspecialized complexity under.
- eropple 3y ago
  > I'm not sure I agree. Eventually your garage is totally full of exactly the right tool for some job or other and you can't find anything because there's tools in the way. Frequently it means you can do the thing at all. I will not use my snap ring pliers again this year. Or probably next. But I am never throwing those goddamn things out because trying to do tasks that require them, without them, is impossible. And I will not get a lot of forewarning when my planer decides it's time to blow a bearing. But they're $10 snap ring pliers from Harbor Freight, not $50 Knipex ones. Get the tool to do the job, worry about the nicest tool if you do it every day.
  - comfypotato 3y ago
    Having a cluttered garage and having the right tool for the job are completely unrelated. I’m not 100% following the discussion, though. Most software work can be done with vi and nothing else. Working with your hands, on the other hand, requires snap-ring-plier specific tools.
    - __MatrixMan__ 3y ago
      If your garage has room for 100 tools, and you do 101 jobs, each which requires a niche tool, they become related on the 101st job. That is, unless you start finding other garages for your tools, but even then you're paying a too-many-tools overhead cost. With hand tools it's a little harder to sell people on a tool that only does one job, so you'll reach that point more slowly. Maybe it's the 201st job. But if you look at the explosion of languages, libraries, an SaaS offerings for everything under the sun, it seems that the tech world is more than capable of overcomplicating your stack with a 1:1 tool/task mapping.
- c22 3y ago
  My solution to this problem was to join a makerspace collective. Now if I lack the perfect tool for a job there's a good chance the makerspace has it. If not, I buy the tool and leave it at the makerspace and my garage contains only the tools I use all the time.
coldtea 3y ago
I'd say an expert is the one knowing how to use a tool for multiple jobs, and do wonders with a minimal toolset - not needing "the exact right tool for each job".
- cutler 3y ago
  Agreed. Pick 4 languages, 1 each for: - Front-end (JS) - Scritping (Python, Ruby, Perl, PHP) - Applications (Java, C#, Kotlin, Scala, Clojure) - System (C, C++, Rust) That is all you need. A true master can do a lot with the 2 "worst" languages - JS and PHP.
  - dgacmu 3y ago
    Languages are turing-complete. Tools are not. Example: there are some shapes you cannot physically create as a single unit with a milling machine; they can only be created by additive deposition methods. Or more simply, while you _can_ screw in a star drive screw with a very improperly used hex driver, you probably shouldn't.
    - midoridensha 3y ago
      Even more simply than that: if you need to unscrew a screw, using a hammer probably won't work well. Which is why that saying about a poor craftsman blaming his tools is BS: if you're given the wrong tool, you're not going to be able to do a good job.
      - OJFord 3y ago
        I've never heard that saying used in a wrong way like that, about a tool that is just wrong; it's not BS if it's about someone claiming their nails are wonky and the surrounding surface marred because of the 'crap' hammer they used, for example.
        midoridensha 3y ago
        Sure, but that's not what the saying literally says. It says "only a poor craftsman blames his tools". It makes no mention of the tools being actually fit for the purpose. They should have specified that. And even if it is the "right" tool (a hammer for a nail), what if the hammer is a plastic kid's toy? I think this saying makes far too many implicit assumptions about the type and quality of the craftsman's tools.

DavidPeiffer 3y ago

>Also for tools with consumables, the quality of the consumables matters way more than the tool that you put them in. I fully agree. I wasted hours dealing with brad nails that didn't go in all the way, only to bend over when I tried to nail set them. Paying more for Brad nails fixed the issue almost entirely.

__MatrixMan__ 3y ago

I'm not sure I agree. Eventually your garage is totally full of exactly the right tool for some job or other and you can't find anything because there's tools in the way. It applies to software too. If all of the complexity in your project is placing the perfect tools and configuring them correctly, you end up with a codebase that's 90% tool-specific and even coders that think they're fluent in your language of choice have a steep learning curve if they're gonna work on your project because the complexity is no longer in the project's alleged language, it's now in 15 separate DSL's that they've never heard of. There's a balance to be struck here. I see this especially often in python projects with complex pre-commit configurations. It's like we secretly need that compilation step, even if our language doesn't strictly require it, and it just becomes a rug to hide overspecialized complexity under.

eropple 3y ago
> I'm not sure I agree. Eventually your garage is totally full of exactly the right tool for some job or other and you can't find anything because there's tools in the way. Frequently it means you can do the thing at all. I will not use my snap ring pliers again this year. Or probably next. But I am never throwing those goddamn things out because trying to do tasks that require them, without them, is impossible. And I will not get a lot of forewarning when my planer decides it's time to blow a bearing. But they're $10 snap ring pliers from Harbor Freight, not $50 Knipex ones. Get the tool to do the job, worry about the nicest tool if you do it every day.
- comfypotato 3y ago
  Having a cluttered garage and having the right tool for the job are completely unrelated. I’m not 100% following the discussion, though. Most software work can be done with vi and nothing else. Working with your hands, on the other hand, requires snap-ring-plier specific tools.
  - __MatrixMan__ 3y ago
    If your garage has room for 100 tools, and you do 101 jobs, each which requires a niche tool, they become related on the 101st job. That is, unless you start finding other garages for your tools, but even then you're paying a too-many-tools overhead cost. With hand tools it's a little harder to sell people on a tool that only does one job, so you'll reach that point more slowly. Maybe it's the 201st job. But if you look at the explosion of languages, libraries, an SaaS offerings for everything under the sun, it seems that the tech world is more than capable of overcomplicating your stack with a 1:1 tool/task mapping.
c22 3y ago
My solution to this problem was to join a makerspace collective. Now if I lack the perfect tool for a job there's a good chance the makerspace has it. If not, I buy the tool and leave it at the makerspace and my garage contains only the tools I use all the time.

coldtea 3y ago

I'd say an expert is the one knowing how to use a tool for multiple jobs, and do wonders with a minimal toolset - not needing "the exact right tool for each job".

cutler 3y ago
Agreed. Pick 4 languages, 1 each for: - Front-end (JS) - Scritping (Python, Ruby, Perl, PHP) - Applications (Java, C#, Kotlin, Scala, Clojure) - System (C, C++, Rust) That is all you need. A true master can do a lot with the 2 "worst" languages - JS and PHP.
- dgacmu 3y ago
  Languages are turing-complete. Tools are not. Example: there are some shapes you cannot physically create as a single unit with a milling machine; they can only be created by additive deposition methods. Or more simply, while you _can_ screw in a star drive screw with a very improperly used hex driver, you probably shouldn't.
  - midoridensha 3y ago
    Even more simply than that: if you need to unscrew a screw, using a hammer probably won't work well. Which is why that saying about a poor craftsman blaming his tools is BS: if you're given the wrong tool, you're not going to be able to do a good job.
    - OJFord 3y ago
      I've never heard that saying used in a wrong way like that, about a tool that is just wrong; it's not BS if it's about someone claiming their nails are wonky and the surrounding surface marred because of the 'crap' hammer they used, for example.
      - midoridensha 3y ago
        Sure, but that's not what the saying literally says. It says "only a poor craftsman blames his tools". It makes no mention of the tools being actually fit for the purpose. They should have specified that. And even if it is the "right" tool (a hammer for a nail), what if the hammer is a plastic kid's toy? I think this saying makes far too many implicit assumptions about the type and quality of the craftsman's tools.