Comment by eternityforest
3 years ago
Seems like almost all devs these days feel this way, and I don't quite get it.
As far as I'm concerned the ideal software ecosystem is one where every manmade object is connected, and the actual code is highly encapsulated where I never have to see any part of it except the part I'm changing.
My idea of an ideal software ecosystem isn't far from what we have today, minus the locked down proprietary protocols and cloud-only software, and with a few less containers.
Everything IoT, software done in high level, encapsulated, reuse heavy, and with an emphasis on extremely safety, and a whole lot less low level code where the compiler can't watch your back.
Things are pretty great now, we just need more performance-focused P2P tech and local APIs for our smart gadgets.
But it seems that other programmers really enjoyed a lot of the stuff that I'm happiest to see gone, the hacks, the low level algorithms work, then clever algorithms.
I'm kind of worried for the future, since it seems the best and brightest are now bored, and we might not get much real innovation without at least a few of them.
Software dev is part function and part art. All of us live somewhere on the reductive 1D dichotomy "function" <-> "art". Some (not all) people more on the "art" side prefer an open canvas which involves having direct access to the computer. Some on the "function" side find that commoditized software is safe and repeatable software. These two perspectives differ but often because of interests. There's more than enough room out there for both types of devs.
It seems like the scene is kind of splitting though.
Commercial and commercial-inspired software is doing a great job of making totally standardized predictable platforms, and the DIY minded people pretty much only do things like Arch, unless they're getting paid a lot.
Doesn't seem like the dev community is really excited about anything safe and repeatable anymore.
Is the current monstrosity of billions and billions of lines of code from different vendors and dozens of layers of abstraction in different languages really all that safe? More code, more fragmentation, more complexity, more layers, more vulnerabilities. We're seeing more hacks and exploits than ever.
I'd trust things like OpenBSD over whatever sandboxed browser or cloud service, despite their security spending.
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Hm on thinking about this, I agree. As someone interested in standardized, predictable platforms I just don't see a welcoming atmosphere in the DIY world. The DIY programming world has an anti-intellectual streak these days that turns me off from it. I find the kind of work I like doing to get more purchase in academia or the corporate world.