Surely it's not quite such a big difference, especially as you included "could rewrite it in a different language?" - isn't throwing away the bit of wood you ma

Surely it's not quite such a big difference, especially as you included "could rewrite it in a different language?" - isn't throwing away the bit of wood you made the cut in to start on a new bit of wood pretty much identical to throwing away the code you wrote in language 1 to start again in language 2? In both cases the you make the decision to consider the work done initially as now waste, in both cases you might have learned from the experience to improve the next version enough that it was worth trashing the first? In both cases it could be a very minor thing (it was the first cut you made in a small, cheap bit of wood / you'd only built the first bit of a basic POC for a small and simple bit of software) or a massive decision (you've nearly finished building your boat or program, and decide a mistake means you need to completely start from scratch). I suppose the biggest difference is that thanks to the backspace key most mind-changing in development doesn't have to be as major as rewriting in a new language, you so always have the option to undo the last cut rather than throw it away to start again. So maybe my argument is less against there being a significant difference and more against "rewriting in a new language" being a relevant example.