Re:Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Prog...
by clnq on Tuesday January 10, 2023 @01:00PM
(#34328812)
> I agree that web development is complex. I disagree that abstraction layers add complexity. Abstraction layers solve problems.
True, until there's a bug in abstraction level 6 caused by an upstream change in proprietary abstraction level 3 that's been patched in abstraction level 8, but not for your specific case. Then it becomes complex.
Re:Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Prog...
by mmcnl on Tuesday January 10, 2023 @03:46PM
(#34331228)
Yes, but in my experience this doesn't actually happen that often as long as you don't rely on external dependencies too much. This happens in any ecosystem btw.
Re:Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Prog...
by mgkimsal on Wednesday January 11, 2023 @11:06AM
(#34339952)
> as long as you don't rely on external dependencies too much. This happens in any ecosystem btw.
I can't think of many 'modern' projects in the web world that do not rely heavily on an often very large number of external dependencies.
The web is not just for websites anymore, it's a universal platform for app distribution. This means web apps can instantly be made available to billions of users. You noticed that yourself. This brings all kinds of complexity that these layers solve. They absorb complexity, not add it. So I don't understand why you would say things have gotten "bad". Things were way worse, but individial contributors never noticed.