Why would someone possibly care enough to go out of there way to write a blog post condemning them. I just don't get it. This seems like a popular tactic in the Ruby and Python communities although it's toned down enough over the last few years that I thought this movement was about over. This post just helped remind me it isn't.
If your feelings get hurt: good. Maybe if it happens enough times you'll move on to better tools and technologies, you'll have an easier time building better products, and your customers will be more happy.
Sure, we're all cutting wood. But some of us are doing it with faster and safer tools. Maybe the consumer doesn't notice the difference, but the carpenter sure as hell does.
I use Rails, Django, raw PHP, whatever makes the most sense for the job at hand.
Sometimes it is hard to effectively duplicate the server environment (OS, RDBMS, ODBMS, web server, reverse proxy, other web server, caching tier) on a local machine. Particularly in a test deployment (as opposed to dev) you want to be very close to the production setup.
However, as wrong as that is, your comment tells me you're living in some kind of bubble. There are no right and wrong workflows or tools. Yes, there are objectively better and worse ones but not right or wrong ones. The fact is that the vast majority of developers actually do develop the way that Coda2 encourages. I don't agree with it and I know there's a better way just like you but Panic is just giving the people what they want. I just interviewed at a dev shop that actually had this exact setup: A development server. That's it. You'd edit on the dev server and hope to god you didn't screw it up. Yeah, real live, profitable, established companies do this. So do millions of developers.
No one is being an apologist. You're simply being an elitist. The world of professional web developers doesn't consist of what we all read on HN and see in the Valley. Real world development workflows would probably make someone like you puke but its reality.
People aren't convincing themselves that their tools are best. They simply have a preference for them and that's that. They don't care about all the bullshit minutiae that every HNer loves to navel-gaze about. They don't care if PHP is inconsistent and insecure - they build working apps with it that people love. I don't even know why MySQL is now a target of the hipster crowd. Is it because its too popular now? Seems like it.
But I digress. The point is that there really are as many ways to do things as there are developers and Panic shouldn't apologize for not pandering to the hipster set. Honestly, I was disappointed with Coda2 too. I used the original some years ago when I was learning and loved it. I moved on to better tools eventually but I will never say that your tool is wrong and mine is right. You build with what lets you build and I'll do the same. Some developers get by using tools some of us look down on because they simply haven't run across situations where they've hit their limits and the tools have become more of a hassle than a help. Not everyone takes the same path in their journey. Not everyone wants to be the best. Some people are cool with mediocre. Some are hobbyists. Whatever. Let them have their tools. Like I said, there's no right or wrong. Just good, better, and best (and even those come with their fine print).
Apologists post in threads like these time and time again, whether the argument is for them using PHP, SVN, or whatever. My reply boils down to this:
Sure, you can construct a home using nothing but straw and mud. And because the house is still standing at the end of the first day, you convince yourself that those are good materials for your next job. But don't kid yourself. Straw and mud are not good, modern tools for construction. You're going to be looked down upon by the rest of your industry that moved on to wood, brick, and cement. Deal with it.