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"Everything in the box is kind of weird and quirky, but maybe not enough to make it completely worthless. And there’s no clear problem with the set as a whole;

"Everything in the box is kind of weird and quirky, but maybe not enough to make it completely worthless. And there’s no clear problem with the set as a whole; it still has all the tools. Now imagine you meet millions of carpenters using this toolbox who tell you “well hey what’s the problem with these tools? They’re all I’ve ever used and they work fine!” And the carpenters show you the houses they’ve built, where every room is a pentagon and the roof is upside-down. And you knock on the front door and it just collapses inwards and they all yell at you for breaking their door. "

debacle 14y ago
> where every room is a pentagon and the roof is upside-down. And you knock on the front door and it just collapses inwards and they all yell at you for breaking their door. " That's a straw man. There are thousands of sites out there, running on PHP, that are incredibly well-engineered.
- astrodust 14y ago
  The problem is there are millions of PHP sites out there.
Killswitch 14y ago
Stop blaming the tools for the stupidity and unoriginality of the carpenter. The tools don't make the house stable, look good, or even become something people want. How the carpenter uses those tools and puts his own vision into it does. The same hammer, nails, screwdriver, whatever is used to build mansions... It's also the same tools used to build shitty houses that fall apart... Your point means exactly what the original author meant. Don't worry about the tools used to build your product, just build the damn thing.
- zenogais 14y ago
  Tools have a lot to do with setting the range of possible creations you can make. If I have better tools I can build much larger buildings than you on similar timescales. It's the difference between using wood and all the standard tools to build a skyscraper and using forklifts, cranes, and welded beams. No amount of skill is going to turn your toolbox into a forklift. Similar sorts of increases are possible with other programming languages and better toolsets, unfortunately you usually have to use them to see these things. You'll probably ask why everyone isn't using these tools if they're so good. The answer is for the same reason people write articles like this. New stuff is scary and weird and the old stuff works well enough, right?
  - Killswitch 14y ago
    Wrong. Just because you can build faster with a supposedly "better" tool, doesn't mean everyone else can. I know Python, I know Node.js, I know a bunch of other languages, but I don't know them better than PHP, and to be honest, my job doesn't pay me to learn a new language at the same scale as I know my current language, all because a group of people THINK that my language is crap, when in reality, to the end user, my language looks no different than theirs. My mentality is to use whatever tool you feel comfortable with, and don't let someone else tell you to use something different because THEY can build faster. Sure a nail gun is faster than a hammer, but if I have problems with an nail gun and can bang in nails faster with a hammer than a nail gun. I'm gonna use the hammer.

debacle 14y ago

> where every room is a pentagon and the roof is upside-down. And you knock on the front door and it just collapses inwards and they all yell at you for breaking their door. " That's a straw man. There are thousands of sites out there, running on PHP, that are incredibly well-engineered.

astrodust 14y ago
The problem is there are millions of PHP sites out there.

Killswitch 14y ago

Stop blaming the tools for the stupidity and unoriginality of the carpenter. The tools don't make the house stable, look good, or even become something people want. How the carpenter uses those tools and puts his own vision into it does. The same hammer, nails, screwdriver, whatever is used to build mansions... It's also the same tools used to build shitty houses that fall apart... Your point means exactly what the original author meant. Don't worry about the tools used to build your product, just build the damn thing.

zenogais 14y ago
Tools have a lot to do with setting the range of possible creations you can make. If I have better tools I can build much larger buildings than you on similar timescales. It's the difference between using wood and all the standard tools to build a skyscraper and using forklifts, cranes, and welded beams. No amount of skill is going to turn your toolbox into a forklift. Similar sorts of increases are possible with other programming languages and better toolsets, unfortunately you usually have to use them to see these things. You'll probably ask why everyone isn't using these tools if they're so good. The answer is for the same reason people write articles like this. New stuff is scary and weird and the old stuff works well enough, right?
- Killswitch 14y ago
  Wrong. Just because you can build faster with a supposedly "better" tool, doesn't mean everyone else can. I know Python, I know Node.js, I know a bunch of other languages, but I don't know them better than PHP, and to be honest, my job doesn't pay me to learn a new language at the same scale as I know my current language, all because a group of people THINK that my language is crap, when in reality, to the end user, my language looks no different than theirs. My mentality is to use whatever tool you feel comfortable with, and don't let someone else tell you to use something different because THEY can build faster. Sure a nail gun is faster than a hammer, but if I have problems with an nail gun and can bang in nails faster with a hammer than a nail gun. I'm gonna use the hammer.