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This is exactly why a lot of people want to do a start up, or at least start a side project that solves a specific problem. You get to to be the expert in that

This is exactly why a lot of people want to do a start up, or at least start a side project that solves a specific problem. You get to to be the expert in that domain, and in order to get the complete product out, you need to be a generalist. Another meme that's been thrown around is: "You are not the complete developer if you've not written a compiler." I don't necessarily buy that, but there is some merit: there is a lot of different skills required in a compiler, from domain modelling and DSL design, to theoretical CS like grammars and parsing, to very practical software engineering such as IO handling, string manipulation, encoding, documentation, etc.

meric 12y ago
It is a necessary truism at every abstraction layer there is at least one developer (dead or alive) who has the ability to rebuild the abstraction layer from one layer down. Speaking from a society point of view: The meme thrown around ensures developers learn to do exactly that and keeps the developer work force well trained and skilled, to rebuild things where necessary.
tomphoolery 12y ago
I've heard it as "You don't really understand how programming languages (and/or computers) work until you've written a compiler.", which I believe is more accurate. Otherwise you get into that "no true scotsman"[1] logical fallacy, wherein we argue what being a "real" developer means. [1]: https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/no-true-scotsman https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/no-true-scotsman
atmosx 12y ago
> This is exactly why a lot of people want to do a start up, or at least start a side project that solves a specific problem. You get to to be the expert in that domain, and in order to get the complete product out, you need to be a generalist. Hm, funny thing you mentioned startups. Apart programming related startups, I don't think that startup-ers are "great programmers". I get the feeling that most startup programmers (not all of them, but most of them) are somewhere between average and novice level. I get the feeling that most "great programmers" are not that interested in startup (making money, living the thrill or whatever). Most famous programmers, work in big corps for medium-to-huge salaries and (most of the times) even getting paid to work on their side-projects (Dropbox pays G.V. Rossum for Python-dev, Heroku pays Matz for Ruby-dev, etc.).
- ankitml 12y ago
  FYI : Heroku and dropbox are not big corps.

meric 12y ago

It is a necessary truism at every abstraction layer there is at least one developer (dead or alive) who has the ability to rebuild the abstraction layer from one layer down. Speaking from a society point of view: The meme thrown around ensures developers learn to do exactly that and keeps the developer work force well trained and skilled, to rebuild things where necessary.

tomphoolery 12y ago

I've heard it as "You don't really understand how programming languages (and/or computers) work until you've written a compiler.", which I believe is more accurate. Otherwise you get into that "no true scotsman"[1] logical fallacy, wherein we argue what being a "real" developer means. [1]: https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/no-true-scotsman https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/no-true-scotsman

atmosx 12y ago

> This is exactly why a lot of people want to do a start up, or at least start a side project that solves a specific problem. You get to to be the expert in that domain, and in order to get the complete product out, you need to be a generalist. Hm, funny thing you mentioned startups. Apart programming related startups, I don't think that startup-ers are "great programmers". I get the feeling that most startup programmers (not all of them, but most of them) are somewhere between average and novice level. I get the feeling that most "great programmers" are not that interested in startup (making money, living the thrill or whatever). Most famous programmers, work in big corps for medium-to-huge salaries and (most of the times) even getting paid to work on their side-projects (Dropbox pays G.V. Rossum for Python-dev, Heroku pays Matz for Ruby-dev, etc.).

ankitml 12y ago
FYI : Heroku and dropbox are not big corps.