News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Stack Overflow and the Zeitgeist of Computer Programming by BadassFractal on Monday November 23, 2015 @01:12AM (#10613153)
question: what do we do about this? Is this just how it's going to be? I wonder how much total programmer time was wasted re-learning how to do the same thing in a slightly differently flavored framework / language / pattern. Supposed we would have ended up with more overall productivity and stability in software had it not been for the endless iteration on the same old stuff.
Re:Stack Overflow and the Zeitgeist of Computer Programming by sago on Monday November 23, 2015 @02:39AM (#10613322)
> how much total programmer time was wasted re-learning

I don't see it that way. I think once you've used a few frameworks and languages, you 'learn' the concepts, the patterns and the ideas. I've programmed professionally in more than a dozen languages, and a lot of frameworks/libraries/tools. 'Learning' a new one doesn't worry me, because I don't have to learn it. Tools like SO, used as use-case based documentation let me very quickly turn the concept into the syntax I need, and make it fairly easy for me to use a new tool. If I use that tool a lot, I get familiar with it, and don't have to look up as much, but the minutiae of a tool isn't what makes you productive, I don't think.