On Sun, Feb 18, 2024 at 08:04:28PM -0500, Steve Litt wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I have a feeling you guys might like my latest Linkedin post, so I'm
> reproducing it here:
>
> ================================================
> Folks call me a graybeard, retro-grouch, "afraid to learn new things",
> "reinenting the wheel" and "get real, this is (fill in year) for my
> refusal to willy-nilly incorporate low-benefit layers of abstraction
> and questionable "other people's code". Now this IEEE article says I
> was on to something all these years:
>
> https://spectrum.ieee.org/lean-software-development
>
> Whether my viewpoint is right or wrong, the real tragedy is that the
> "don't reinvent the wheel" orthodoxy has spawned many developers who
> were never taught the option of coding it themselves, so they have no
> choice but to assemble their code from the software world's spare
> parts box.
> ================================================

I concur with the analysis and sentiment of the article, and
your POV. We can make the world better for ourselves by
these choices (for some value of 'better'.)

However the world at large looks like it is running the
other way. Management picks bloated, heavyweight solutions
because they tend to have the largest ecosystems. They have
name recognition; are an industry standard. "No one was ever
fired for choosing Wordpress." Job requirements will often
list one of these megaframeworks.

Databases are an example of where there is good competition
and lean coding practices. I'm sure Wirth would approve of sqlite!



--
Joel Roth