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This is a degree of thinking that feels rank common in the world. When you read a complex blog post with sophisticated approach, there's often a "wouldn't it be
by jauntywundrkind 2y ago
This is a degree of thinking that feels rank common in the world. When you read a complex blog post with sophisticated approach, there's often a "wouldn't it be easy to just ____."
Maybe, yes, perhaps! But sometimes the problem at hand - the proboem specified in the post - isnt the entire desire or objective. "Actually be easier" abounds, but sometimes our scope & intent in the long run builds on the problems at hand.
Porting ExifTool may be easier (but then if you want to maintain it, that's a drain for life). But having perl that you can now run anywhere might be something this author sees other use for. Getting good at wasm or exhibiting their excellent systems skills might have been side objectives.
Whether we just do things to get to get results at hand, or whether we invest ourselves broadly to build a better world is a constant struggle for many engineers. This shows up in the comments time and time again as "would actually be easier". I'm sorry for hitting hard on this specific comment, but there's a Two Cultures problem here, and one culture trivializes the other endlessly in the comments. It's hard for me to state why trying hard & caring & doing extra matters, but I think that breed of people are the ones that I look up to, that make all the difference to me. And I really wish there was a good defense or rallying cry, something we could say when we get the inevitable "would actually be easier" that can capture the enthusiasm for setting ourselves up & building broadly towards our better worlds.
- hobs 2y agoIf it makes you feel good go for it, seems like a huge PITA for me to figure out what files do, but sometimes the journey is a lot more fun than the destination.
- jauntywundrkind 2y agoI see it less as the fun of the journey, and more as the chance to become better, and make better tools for yourself going forwards. Advancing your position is more tempting than just doing the task. It's not always apparent how the side-quests will help us. But man, I can think of a half-dozens of upsides of the work here. You now have a portal Perl you can use anywhere. You don't have to maintain & keep a fork of ExifTool up to date. You've learned a ton about wasm file system interactions which could be useful for any portable systems. There's so many incidentals, that people just don't see when they blaze through to "but it could be easier."
- transpute 2y ago> And I really wish there was a good defense or rallying cry, something we could say when we get the inevitable "would actually be easier" that can capture the enthusiasm for setting ourselves up & building broadly towards our better worlds. “I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have liberty to study Mathematicks and Philosophy. My sons ought to study Mathematicks and Philosophy, Geography, natural History, Naval Architecture, navigation, Commerce and Agriculture, in order to give their Children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry and Porcelaine.” —John Adams, 1780 “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.” —G. Michael Hopf, 2016 Is there a programming abstraction of this circle of life?
- aghilmort 2y agoyes. this. same. au revoire to the yes and’ers & yes but’ers. plus love how you worked in side quest angle — more often than not the payoff can be quite high!