...this is actually a great analogy.

Yes, it does; but when you're trying to set a record swimming the English Channel, or escaping from a sinking ship you'd be an idiot to do it deliberately weighing yourself down with weights.

I suppose there's something to be said for both ways of doing things ultimately, depending on what situation you're in, and what your goal is.

...but unconditionally advising people to swim with weights, is simply bad advice.

> when you're trying to set a record swimming the English Channel

Your training time to competition time is about 99:1 (on the high side for the competition time). The record attempts (or the emergencies) are a poor continuation of this analogy when it comes to programming.

> unconditionally advising people to swim with weights, is simply bad advice

So we should advise them to use floats instead, since it makes swimming so much easier?

So the best case is learning without an IDE, and working with one?

Well the analogy doesn't actually allow for a starter/bad swimmer as they drown first.

Also, swimmers don't swim with weights to improve technique or strength. I'd expect it would result in unorthodox or worsened technique due to trying to swim around the artificial imbalance of the weights.

> Also, swimmers don't swim with weights to improve technique or strength.

They use the aquatic analog to weights - disabling their arms or legs, drastically increasing drag (via multiple swimsuits, or suits with chute-like pockets), swimming against bungee cords.

Other than bungee cords for small pools/space usage, can't say I've heard of such drag methods, only of resistance training outside of the pool. Though, I didn't mean to take the analogy off-topic, maybe I got too literal.

Harrison Bergeron would never have ascended so high, were he not so greatly weighed down first.

I mean, assuming you don't drown.